Through the Years, Season 2: The Johto League
by Evanibble
Summary: After competing in the Indigo League in Kanto, 18 year-old Niko continues on to the Johto region to compete in the Silver Conference. This is a story chronicling the adventures with him and his friends Fay, Brittany, JJ, and the the many pokemon that they catch on their journey. Enjoy!
1. Episode 1: New Bark, New Journey!

**Author's note: Hey everyone! First episode of Season 2! It's technically April 1st where I live, so I was on time in posting this, like I said I would :p**

 **Anyways, as far as scheduling is concerned (because I was not very good at that last season), I'm thinking of doing one episode each weekday, and two episodes on weekends. That might change, depending on life and whatnot, but that's what I'm thinking, since doing two episodes a day is exhausting for me and probably exhausting to catch up on for readers.**

 **With regards to the actual story, I plan on solving some of the problems I had with Season 1, like neglecting some pokemon/characters over others, providing more depth to the main characters, etc. Nevertheless, I'm really excited to get back into this. I think this season will be pretty good, so stay tuned! Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Episode 1: New Bark, New Journey!**

"Magnemite, use thundershock!" Niko commanded. His magnet pokémon generated little sparks of electricity and shot them towards its opponent.

"Weedle, dodge and use poison sting!" Another trainer, Billy, yelled out. The small purple barbs collided with the thundershock, both exploding on contact and dissipating immediately after. Niko then retaliated with another thundershock, this time up close. Magnemite rushed forward, creating sparks with its little magnets on each side of its body, and released them at close range, successfully hitting the weedle.

"Weedle is unable to battle, magnemite wins! Niko is the winner of this battle!" JJ declared, waving an arm in his friend's direction. Niko walked up to Billy to shake his hand.

"Hey, good job dude. You definitely made it difficult for magnemite and I to win that one. I like how you didn't give up. That's an important skill in being a better trainer, trust me."

Billy smiled and returned the handshake. "Thanks! And I hope to see you again sometime. Then we can have a rematch!"

"You got it. We've gotta head off, now. Do you know how far New Bark Town is from here?"

Billy turned around and pointed in the direction he had previously come from. "Just a little ways down that road. It's not far, actually."

Niko and the rest of the group gave their thanks, and headed off. They had been on the road for two days now. Before, Niko had had doubts about going on another journey, due mainly to his performance at Indigo Plateau a few months prior. The loss—at the hands of one of his closest friends, Fay—made him feel like a failure in not just the eyes of his family and friends, but also his pokémon; the ones who had helped him get as far as he did.

It was the convincing from Brittany, his parents, and finally Fay that snapped Niko out of his miserable state. It was then that he decided to travel to the Johto Region, compete for gym badges with Fay once again, and then enter into the Silver Conference the following spring. With only his magnemite, a pokémon that he caught in Kanto, Niko was ready to give it his all again. However, doubts still lingered in his mind; doubts that he wasn't aware of yet.

"I wonder what this Professor Elm guy is like…" Brittany said out loud in an attempt to create conversation with her friends.

"Well, Oak says he is kind of a quirky guy, but otherwise he must be friendly, right?"

Brittany nodded in response, more focused on the road ahead. A few moments later, they noticed some buildings come into view. They had finally made it to the Johto Region.

"Wow…" JJ said in awe. "This place looks beautiful."

"It doesn't look too different from Kanto, JJ…" Fay retorted, laughing a little under his breath.

"Well, yeah sure, but still…" The group continued on into town in search of the lab. Wasn't hard to find, as it was the largest building in New Bark Town. It looked pretty similar to Professor Oak's lab—just a large, rectangular building with a set of double doors that opened automatically. Walking inside, it was still similar, with rows of books on shelves and some machines in the back of the room. There was a set of stairs that went upwards, presumably to the professor's room.

As they approached the back of the lab, a tall man with light brown hair perked up, looking at the four young trainers through his thin-rimmed glasses.

"Oh! Oh uh…hello, there!" He said, quickly shuffling a stack of papers that had been scattered around his desk before standing up quickly. He nearly fell forward as he rushed towards the group to more properly greet them. "You four must be the kids Oak was telling me about, right?"

"Yes, sir. My name is Fay. This is Niko, Brittany, and JJ. We're on a journey through the Johto Region, and were told to stop by here on our way."

"Oh, yes yes. Oak told me all about you guys. Niko and Fay…you competed in the Indigo League, right?" Both nodded. "Great! I'm sure you'll find the Silver Conference equally challenging. Part of my job is to help new trainers on their journey, whether it's giving them their first pokémon or directing them to the nearest gym, or both!"

"Oh, great then. Care to help us out a bit, then?" Fay asked.

"Oh…err…" Elm began, "I'm pretty swamped in work today, actually. But…say! Come back in a few hours, and we can get you all started on your journey. I'll even treat you all to dinner at my place. My wife loves having people over!"

"Sounds like a plan, professor!" JJ responded. "Say, is there anywhere we can go to grab something to eat?"

"Oh, sure! There's a small noodle restaurant in the south of town that you can check out!"

"Great, thanks!" Niko answered as they left the lab in search of this noodle place. Arriving there several minutes later, they realized that Elm made the right suggestion—the noodles were great. After walking off lunch by touring the town, the group finally arrived back at the lab to meet with Elm once again.

"Professor, we're back!" JJ yelled out as he entered the lab. The rather disorganized professor quickly got out of his chair to greet the group once again.

"Oh, hello kids! You got here just in time—I finished my report, and should be free for the rest of the day to help you all out," Elm said, calmer than he was before. He walked over to a table behind his desk and pulled out four of the same small machine. "Here you guys go. These are pokédexes for the Johto Region, and should help you identify pokémon that you aren't familiar with. Also, since many Kanto pokémon are also native to Johto, you'll be able to register them in this, too."

"Wow, thanks professor!" Niko said, pulling out a pokéball. "Let's see what they have to say about magnemite!" He then released his electric type and opened his new pokédex:

" _Magnemite, the magnet pokémon. Electric and steel types. The electricity emitted by the units on each side of its body cause it to become a strong magnet_."

"Oh, so it also gives their type, too? The Kanto pokédex didn't do that…"

"Correct, Niko!" Elm responded. "Oak mentioned that to me, and so I upgraded the pokédex to include it. I'm sure you'll find it useful on your journey. Also…Oak mentioned that I offer you both a starter pokémon. Would you both like one?"

"Uhh…sure!" Niko said. "Hey, magnemite, whadda ya say?" The magnet pokémon chittered happily in agreement. "Alright, let's do it!"

"Agreed, I don't have any pokémon on me, actually," Fay added.

"Wait…why not…?" Niko said, looking over at his friend.

"I left them at home. I figured I'd start over as well. I know JJ and Brittany didn't, but I think if the both of us are challenging gyms again, let's do it the same way we did last time, right?" Niko nodded in agreement.

"Alright then, follow me upstairs. That's where I keep the pokémon," Elm said, motioning the four trainers to the second floor of the lab.

It looked similar to the first floor, with bookshelves lining the walls. There was a large capsule in the center of the room that held three pokéballs. Elm walked over and held them in his hands.

"So I have the three starter pokémon in the Johto Region. I'll send each one out one at a time. The first, chikorita:"

Elm threw out a pokéball containing a small green pokémon with a large leaf on its head and red eyes. Niko pulled out his pokédex:

" _Chikorita, the leaf pokémon. Grass type. It loves to bask in the sunlight. It uses the leaf on its head to seek out warm places_."

"The second, cyndaquil:"

Elm threw out a second pokémon, this time a small, bipedal mouse with fire on its back. It looked up at Fay cheerfully. Fay pulled out his pokédex this time:

" _Cyndaquil, the fire mouse pokémon. Fire type. The fire that spouts from its back burns hottest when it is angry. The flaring flames intimidate foes_."

"The third, totodile:"

Elm finally threw out a small, blue crocodile pokémon, also bipedal. Niko looked down at it with interest, ultimately pulling out his pokédex:

" _Totodile, the big jaw pokémon. Water type. This rough critter chomps at any moving object it sees. Turning your back on it is not recommended_ ," JJ chuckled a little at this entry in particular.

Elm then looked up at Fay and Niko. "So…what do you two think?"

Fay immediately answered. "Cyndaquil. I choose cyndaquil."

"Excellent choice, Fay! Professor Oak told me all about your charizard. I think you'll do fine with training another fire type. Well, here is cyndaquil's pokéball. I know you'll take care of her just fine."

"Thanks, professor."

Niko sat there for a moment. He had difficulty choosing between chikorita and totodile. He liked the idea of choosing another grass type, but he found totodile to be intriguing as a water type. Although it looked a little dopey, it had an aura of strength behind it. Niko appreciated that.

"I choose totodile," He finally responded, getting down on his knees to look at his newest pokémon. "Hey buddy, my name is Niko, and I want to be your trainer. This is my friend, magnemite. He'll be your teammate and friend, too!"

"Niko, I think you and totodile will do just fine. But, I have to warn you—oh!" Elm yelped as he noticed totodile biting Niko's hand as the trainer reached out. "He likes to bite…a lot…"

"I…noticed…" Niko said, wincing in pain. The big jaw pokémon eventually let go, allowing its new trainer to nurse his hand.

"No worries, my wife can fix it up for you in no time! Speaking of which, would you four like to stop by now? I think dinner is almost ready!" The group nodded, following the professor back downstairs and out of the lab to the house next door.

The professor's house was a two-story building that, on the inside, was unusually clean. He led the group into a rather large room with a long wooden table with some delicately crafted chairs lining the sides. A moment later, a woman appeared with plates of food. As she noticed the group, she smiled cheerfully.

"Well, hello kids! You must be my husband's friends!"

"Honey, they're here to start their journey in Johto…" Elm said as he kissed his wife on the cheek and walked into the kitchen to help her.

"Oh! That sounds so exciting! It's rare that I get to meet the trainers that my husband helps out, so this really is an honor!"

"Well, thank you so much for having us," Fay replied.

"Yeah, can't ever turn down a free meal!" Chuckled JJ.

After the food was set on the table, the group sat down and began eating. During dinner, Elm and his wife asked about their journeys in Kanto, the gyms, and their league experience. Elm was fascinated by the pokémon that they got to meet, particularly their encounter with articuno. After a while, the conversation turned back onto Johto.

"So, what are the gyms in Johto like?" Niko finally asked.

"I've never battled any of them, but I do know some of the leaders. They use types that you might not have encountered in Kanto. One gym in particular uses steel types. For reference, your magnemite is a steel type. But generally trainers tell me that some gyms are pretty difficult, but that's all a matter of opinion. I'm sure you kids will do fine, since you've already experienced the gym challenge in Kanto."

"Steel types, huh?" Niko said, "I've heard of them. They're weak to fire types, right?"

"Indeed. They're also strong against ice and rock types. But weak to fire, fighting, and ground. The gym leader that uses them, Jasmine, is a tough cookie, that's for sure."

"I look forward to fighting her, then!" Niko said excitedly. "But, umm, speaking of which, where is the closest gym?"

"It's a toss-up between Blackthorn and Violet, but neither of you are prepared to challenge the blackthorn gym leader…so I'd say Violet is your best bet," Elm said, and then perked up as if he had an idea. "That reminds me! I actually have a favor to ask of you four…"

"What's up, Elm?" Fay asked curiously.

"I have a friend, Mr. Pokémon, who lives just north of Cherrygrove City. He—like me—is very interested in pokémon eggs. I have an egg I would like to send to him, but my assistants and I have been swamped recently, as we are preparing for an inter-regional conference of professors. Could you deliver the egg for me?"

"Sure professor. What's in the egg? Do you know?" JJ asked.

"No idea! A trainer gave it to me, but since I've been busy I can't take care of it. But Mr. Pokémon loves eggs, and will certainly find a home for it. That is, if he doesn't take it for himself! Hehe…"

"Well, we can certainly do that!" JJ responded. "I've taken care of pokémon eggs before. This won't be an issue for me!"

"Yeah, he's right," Brittany added. "His growlithe came from an egg that he was also given. That growlithe loves him a lot, actually!"

"Then I'll entrust the egg with you, JJ!" Elm said excitedly. "Thank you so much!"

The group stayed the night with Elm and his wife, Brittany taking his daughter's old room, and JJ taking his son's while Niko and Fay slept on the couches. The following morning, as they were preparing to leave, Elm's wife walked up to them and gave them a pamphlet and map, similar to what they used in Kanto.

"You guys might find this useful. The map is pretty self-explanatory, but this pamphlet gives you information on each of the primary gym leaders in the region, as well as things to do in each town you might visit."

"Thank you!" JJ said, taking the map and pamphlet, as per usual. "We used something similar when we travelled in Kanto. I really appreciate it."

"No problem, JJ. We're happy to help!"

"And don't worry, professor, we'll get the egg to you!" Niko added.

The professor patted his shoulder. "I have no doubt that you will succeed, Niko. Your group is very competent, from what I've heard. I think you guys will go far."

Saying their good-byes, the group then turned west towards Cherrygrove City, the next stop in their journey towards Mr. Pokémon's house and Violet City, the first Johto gym. The rising sun behind them, their new journey has finally begun.


	2. Episode 2: Quiet Owl

**Episode 2: Quiet Owl**

"Alright guys, I'm gonna catch it," Niko said, pulling out a pokéball and summoning his totodile. "Use bite!"

The big jaw pokémon rushed towards its opponent—a small blue elephant named phanpy. The pokémon rolled away, effectively dodging the attack and instead slamming into totodile, sending it flying into a tree trunk.

"Totodile, you can do this! Just wait for it to get close, okay?" Niko said. Unfortunately for him, the phanpy didn't get close. It just ran away instead. Niko looked in the direction of the little elephant in dismay. "Are you kidding me…? The pokédex made it seem so interesting! And it's a ground type, wouldn't that help?" He turned to his friends.

"Maybe Niko, but no worries, maybe you'll see another one later?" JJ replied, patting his friend on one shoulder while cradling Professor Elm's egg in the other. The group had spent the past day journeying to Cherrygrove City. It would be a stopping point on their way to Mr. Pokémon's house and later Violet City. During the trip, Niko and Fay were getting more comfortable around their new pokémon, and likewise for totodile and cyndaquil. The former seemed eager to fight, which excited Niko. However, he also liked to bite, much to the dismay of Niko and his magnemite.

Cyndaquil, on the other hand, was more timid than Fay had expected. Earlier that day, he tried to catch a pokémon named sentret, but the fire mouse pokémon refused to fight, primarily out of fear of getting hurt by the scout pokémon's rather large tail. Instead of getting angry with it like some trainers might, Fay calmed down his fire type and didn't let it battle.

"So, JJ," Fay asked his friend, who was sitting across their campfire from him, "What does the pamphlet say about the Violet City gym?"

"Oh, yeah let me grab it!" JJ said as he reached over for his backpack. Before he could, he noticed growlithe had it in his mouth. "Hah! Great job buddy, thanks!" JJ said, taking the booklet from his pokémon. He opened it up and shifted through the pages towards the section on gym leaders. "It says the leader is Falkner, and he uses flying types."

"Flying types, eh? Niko, you won't have a lot of difficulty with that one!" Fay said, smiling at his friend.

"Yeah, magnemite will do just fine, right?" The trainer asked his magnet pokémon, who chittered happily. "But I guess we shouldn't underestimate these gym leaders. Elm did say they'd be difficult, right?"

"That's true…" Fay responded, "Definitely need to catch other pokémon. Hopefully we find some soon."

As Fay said that, they heard a rustling in the trees around them. Then, a few moments later, it stopped abruptly. The group looked around, confused. The sound didn't arise again that night, but each of them were on alert, waiting for the mysterious sound to start again.

The following morning, as they were packing up, Niko noticed the phanpy again, strolling through the forest. Noticing it, he rushed towards it, totodile's pokéball in hand. Summoning the water type, he commanded it to use bite, just like before, only to see his pokémon slam into another tree trunk. However, something was different this time. A pokémon fell out of the tree and landed on totodile's head.

"What the-?" Niko said, walking over to see what happened. As he did so, the phanpy ran off again. "OH ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" Niko said, turning in the direction of the long nose pokémon. Sighing loudly, he turned his attention back to the totodile and the mysterious pokémon that resembled an owl.

"Niko, what's going on?" Fay asked, walking over to his friend. "Oh damn, what happened?"

"No idea. We saw that phanpy again and challenged it. It knocked totodile into this tree and an owl fell out. I think it was sleeping…"

Niko was right—it was sleeping. After it hit totodile on the head, it fell over onto the grass under the tree. Totodile, being the curious young pokémon that it is, looked over at the owl and _bit_ it on the head. This woke up the bird, who was scrambling to get out of totodile's grasp. Struggling—and failing—to get out of the jaws of the water type, the owl then started pecking at the inside of totodile's mouth, eventually causing the little crocodile to let go.

"What the heck is this thing…?" Niko finally wondered, pulling out his pokédex:

" _Hoothoot, the owl pokémon. Flying type. It has a perfect sense of time. Whatever happens, it keeps rhythm by precisely tilting its head in time_."

"Alright, I see. Totodile, use tackle!"

"To! Toto toto!" The big jaw pokémon cried out as it rushed towards hoothoot. The owl pokémon flew into the air, evading the attack and responding by slashing at totodile's head with its talons. This sent the big jaw pokémon into the ground, trying to grab onto its head to nurse the wound but failing to do so.

"Alright then, magnemite, I choose you!" Niko proclaimed, summoning his electric type.

"Niko, be careful…you don't want to do too much damage to it…" Cautioned Fay. Niko nodded, instead ordering magnemite to use tackle instead. The hoothoot tried to dodge by flying even higher, but failed to account for magnemite's hovering ability. The two collided, pushing against a tree branch, snapping it, and falling backwards towards the ground. Niko then pulled out a spare pokéball.

"Let's go, I will catch you, hoothoot!" Niko cried out. The owl pokémon, noticing the red and white ball, readjusted its body so that its talons were gripping magnemite, pushed off the electric pokémon and flew away. Magnemite and the pokéball collided, the latter falling to the ground and magnemite looking through the forest, confused and a little disappointed. "It got away…dammit! Why can't I catch _anything_?" Niko yelled out loud.

"Don't worry buddy, pokémon aren't easy to catch, remember that…" Fay said, gripping his friend's shoulder. Niko nodded, walking back to the camp with totodile and magnemite.

The group continued down the road, eventually reaching Cherrygrove City around midday. As usual, they found a pokémon center and proceeded to heal their teams and grab some lunch. While doing so, Niko thought about the hoothoot, and how it got the best of totodile. If a flying type in the wild can overcome them like that, what makes him think he can beat a _trained_ flying type?

He then got up from the booth they were sitting in. "Totodile, magnemite, let's go train," Niko declared to his two companions who were sitting on the floor eating with the rest of the pokémon. They looked back up at him and nodded, getting up and following their trainer outside to the pokémon center's battlefield. Fay, JJ, and Brittany all looked at each other, rushed to finish their lunch, and followed their friend. Niko ended up finding a trainer to battle, and was already in the heat of it by the time the rest of the group found him.

"Totodile, use bite once more!" Niko commanded.

"Metapod, harden!" His opponent, a bug catcher, responded. The big jaw pokémon latched onto the bug type, refusing to let go.

"Now, swing it into the air!" Totodile lifted the metapod off of the ground and tossed it vertically. "And now jump into the air and use tackle!" The water type leapt into the air, slamming the side of its body into its opponent. The two landed back on the ground, metapod defeated.

"Return, metapod. You did alright. Go, kakuna! Use string shot!" Niko wasn't prepared for this, watching totodile get wrapped in white string. "Now swing it around!"

The cocoon pokémon obeyed its trainer, only it couldn't lift totodile into the air, so it ended up dragging the water type through the dirt on the battlefield. Niko responded by ordering a bite, but the totodile was trying to just endure the attack. It finally made an attempt at biting the string, ultimately succeeding and releasing itself from kakuna's grip.

"Great job, totodile! Now, use bite!"

"Kakuna, respond with poison sting!" The bug catcher yelled out. Totodile dodged the purple stingers flying in its direction, ultimately grabbing onto kakuna's head and proceeding to use the same strategy as before, launching it into the air and tackling it midair. Like the first time, this strategy succeeded again.

The bug catcher returned his kakuna and walked up to Niko. "That's a strong totodile you got there. Where did you catch it?"

"Professor Elm gave me one. I'm competing in the gym challenge and he figured it might help," Niko responded, shaking his opponent's hand.

"Hmm…maybe I should give it a try, then! Thanks, mister!" The bug catcher then ran off to heal his pokémon with a newfound eagerness to get stronger.

"Niko...what's up?" Fay asked. "You just got up out of nowhere and went to find a battle."

Niko sighed, looking down at totodile. "That fight with the wild hoothoot made me think about how strong I really am against Falkner. If I can hardly beat a flying type in the wild, how could I compete against one that's been trained?"

"Oh, I have no doubt you'll do well. Keep in mind, you didn't use magnemite to its full potential, since you would have defeated the hoothoot and wouldn't have been able to catch it," Fay mentioned, referring to his previous advice. "Plus, if anyone, you should know how flying types worked. You pidgeot is pretty strong!"

Niko smiled and nodded. He then challenged JJ to a battle, to again test totodile's strength. JJ gave Fay his egg and walked to the other end of the field, summoning eevee to challenge the water type.

"Eevee, use tackle!" JJ commanded. Totodile responded with a tackle of its own, causing the two to collide. They kept at it for a few more rounds before eevee ultimately defeated totodile with a dig attack. Niko then sent out magnemite to challenge eevee.

"Thundershock!"

"Eevee, respond with dig," JJ ordered. "Watch out, Niko, since dig is a ground type move, and magnemite is electric and steel, this might not end well for you if it hits."

"I…I knew that, JJ," Niko responded. "Magnemite, fly up into the sky and wait for eevee."

The magnet pokémon hovered up higher, looking down at the battlefield and waited. Moments later, it saw the evolution pokémon leap out of the ground towards the electric type. Niko then commanded a thundershock, zapping eevee before it landed the attack and causing it to crash back into the ground. Magnemite then responded with another tackle. As it did so, eevee was able to evade quickly, making JJ realize that it may have learned another move.

"Was that…quick attack…?" He muttered, and then smiled. "Alright eevee, use quick attack!"

The normal type turned back to its opponent and rocketed towards it. Magnemite responded with a thundershock, but it landed just as eevee slammed into the little magnet pokémon. Eevee ended up fainting, the thundershock doing too much damage relative to the quick attack.

"Great job eevee, let's take you back into the pokémon center. Come on, guys!" JJ said, grabbing his backpack and running back to heal his starter pokémon.

The whole time, the same hoothoot had been inconspicuously watching Niko's battles in the forest to the side of the battlefield.

Back in the center, while Nurse Joy was healing up, Niko noticed something hitting the glass window nearby. Looking over, he saw a hoothoot, knocking its talon on the window, looking determined about something.

"Hey, guys, look," He said, pointing to the window.

"Is that the same hoothoot from before?" Fay wondered. Niko thought about it for a moment, and nodded in agreement.

"Think so. Hey, Nurse Joy, can I borrow my totodile quickly?" The nurse nodded, giving Niko totodile's pokéball. "Thank you, I'll be back!" He proceeded to run out to meet the owl pokémon, who was flying at eye level to the trainer. "Are you the hoothoot I battled before?" The flying type nodded. "Do you…do you want to battle?" The owl nodded a second time. "Alright then, let's do this. Totodile, you're up! Use bite!"

The summoned crocodile pokémon launched out of the pokéball and rushed at its new opponent, mouth open wide. Hoothoot evaded the attack, responding with a quick peck to the back. Totodile fell over, but rolled onto its back and bit hoothoot's head as it tried to peck again. This time, the owl's beak was nowhere near totodile's mouth, thus preventing it from attacking. Totodile looked to its trainer and nodded.

"Alright, pokéball, let's go! Catch hoothoot!" Niko declared, grabbing a fresh pokéball and throwing it at the owl pokémon. With a flash of red, the hoothoot went into the ball. It wiggled a few times before ultimately clicking. Niko walked over to pick it up, but was bitten in the arm by none other than totodile. "AGH! TOTODILE!" Through his pain, he smiled, holding hoothoot's pokéball in his hand as it quickly lost circulation. With his spare hand, he grabbed totodile's pokéball and returned the little crocodile.

He then walked back inside, holding his two Johto pokémon in each hand. His friends cheered as Niko gave them both to Nurse Joy.

"Oh, and nurse…can I get a bandage for my arm…? Totodile kind of…" He raised his arm, revealing a set of bite marks.

"Professor Elm was certainly right, Niko," JJ said, "Totodile does like to bite things!" The rest of the group laughed as Nurse Joy gave Niko some bandages to cover over his bitten arm.

With a new companion added to their team, the group spent the rest of the day in Cherrygrove City, mainly at the beach to the south. Watching the waves silently ebb and flow, they considered the journey ahead. The following day, they would make it to Mr. Pokémon's house, and hopefully know the identity of the pokémon in the egg that JJ has been carrying. However, for now they enjoyed the serenity of the ocean before resuming their adventures the following morning.


	3. Episode 3: Mr Pokémon's house!

**Episode 3: Mr. Pokémon's house!**

The following day, the group began travelling north of Cherrygrove City towards route 30. It is on this road that Mr. Pokémon lives, at least according to Professor Elm. During the trip, Niko sent out his new hoothoot to get acquainted with it. The owl preferred to sit on his shoulder as he was walking, with magnemite hovering on one side and totodile waddling on the other. Fay also had cyndaquil out, preferring to hold it in his arms. JJ had an egg in his arms and growlithe walking at his side. Brittany brought out wartortle and tangela as well.

The trip to Mr. Pokémon's house took about a day, during which the four trainers primarily walked through a forest and past the occasional lake. There wasn't much to note that day, besides the training Fay and Niko did before eating. Niko was trying to get totodile's speed up while figuring out how hoothoot will be useful in battles. Magnemite, on the other hand, practiced its thundershock release, specifically the release time of the attack.

Fay simply tried to get cyndaquil to do anything. The fire mouse pokémon was too timid to even attempt an ember attack, preferring to hide behind Fay's leg.

"C'mon cyndaquil, you can do this…let's try an ember attack, okay?" He grabbed a match from his backpack (after buying a pack from the mart in Cherrygrove), lit it, and blew on the fire that he created, in an attempt to simulate the fire type move. Cyndaquil freaked out and hid behind her trainer again. "Guess you're too scared of fire in general…that's odd…"

He lit another match and repeated the move, but the fire mouse was once again frightened by the prospect of fire. Even though it could willingly light its own back on fire and not feel any pain, the little cyndaquil didn't seem to find the mere sight of fire to be appealing. It ran over to totodile and hoothoot to watch them. Finding this more preferable, the little fire type sat on its rear as it observed its new friends training.

"I think you've got an audience, Niko," Fay said as he walked over.

"Really? How so?" The brown-haired trainer responded.

"Well, turns out cyndaquil is afraid of fire. Really not sure why, but when I tried to emulate the ember move, the little thing cowered in fear. I need to find a way to get around this…" Fay said as he sat down next to his cyndaquil. "Hey buddy, sorry for lighting that match. I had no idea you were so scared of fire…" Cyndaquil looked up at its trainer for a moment, observing Fay's face as he spoke. "But eventually you'll need to get over that fear, especially if you want to get stronger. Do you want to get stronger?"

Cyndaquil looked down at the grass beneath it, as if unsure of how to respond. It then looked back up at its trainer with the same expression.

"Well, I hope you do. Getting better, stronger, makes life more appealing and fun. Having some sort of goal in mind—whether it's being a doctor, engineer, or the champion of the Pokémon League. You have to get stronger, either in mind, body, or spirit. I want that from you, because I want it for myself, too," Cyndaquil kept looking at Fay, soaking in its words.

"Listen, I'm not asking you to get over your fear now. That'd be ridiculous. Fears don't go away quickly. It takes time and effort, and a lot of courage. But I want that to be your goal. You're more than capable of it, I can sense it," He stood back up. "We're going to work on it, slowly and at a pace that you're comfortable with. Got it?" The cyndaquil nodded, also standing up and walking beside Fay to grab some dinner.

* * *

The following day, the group finally reached Mr. Pokémon's house. Or, well, they had to assume it was his house, since it was the only building for miles. The estate was rather large, with a fountain in the front and a row of hedges leading up to a rather ordinary wooden door.

Fay walked up to it and knocked firmly. The four trainers waited a moment before seeing the door open, revealing a short man dressed in pin-stripe slacks, a white dress shirt, and a black bowtie. He sported a rather large white mustache and had thick, furry white eyebrows. He looked up at Fay for a moment, a little confused.

"Who are you?" He asked quickly.

"My name is Fay, this is Niko, Brittany, and JJ. We're here because Professor Elm sent us on a mission to deliver this egg to you."

"Oh? Oh…yes yes! That's correct! I remember now! Come on in, kids!" Mr. Pokémon opened the door further to allow the group to enter the large house. The inside of the estate looked as ordinary as the front door. There was a living room adorned with couches and a pattern rug (the patterns being different Johto pokémon), along with a couple small tables that held up a few lamps. A coffee table sat in the center of the rug with a small statue of a pikachu on display in the center of the table.

"Wow, this is a lovely place, Mr. Pokémon," Brittany said in awe.

"Why, thank you young lady. In my retirement I have done some decorating. Occasionally I'll travel to Goldenrod to pick up some antiques, like this rug here," The old man pointed to the pattern rug. "On this rug there are the three legendary beasts that are frozen in Ecruteak City. Raikou, Entei, and Suicune."

"Wow…" JJ said out loud, looking down at the three unfamiliar pokémon. He then looked back up at the old man. Mr. Pokémon looked back, noticing the egg in JJ's arms.

"Is this the egg Elm wanted delivered?" JJ nodded. "Well, let's take a look!" He grabbed the egg out of the curly-blonde's outstretched hands and caressed it. "It's a pale green with dark green speckles…hmmm…"

"Do you know what's in the egg?" Niko wondered.

"I might. It's most likely a grass type. The color of pokémon eggs generally reflect the color of the actual pokémon. For example, an eevee egg would be light brown with a darker brown patterned somewhere else on the egg to reflect the primary colors of eevee," He examined the egg more closely. "If I had to guess, this would be a chikorita."

"Why would Elm want to give you a chikorita egg?" JJ asked.

"Not sure, he just loves to send me these things. You see, I study pokémon as a hobby. Always have, but since I retired 15 years ago, it's been the only thing on my mind," He then sat down on a couch, continuing to caress the egg. The group followed suit and also sat down on the couch.

"What did you do before you retired?" Brittany inquired.

"Oh, I ran the Silver Conference, actually."

"Wait, I thought the President of the Pokémon League runs all of the regional conferences," Fay replied.

"You're correct, but since most regional leagues are held in the spring, the president can't make it to all of them. In that case, there are regional managers who also preside over the tournaments. They're kind of like a second in command. A vice president, or deputy president, if you will."

"That's sounds like a lot of fun, actually!"

"Oh, it was. Before that, I was a professor of history over in Goldenrod City, researching old legends."

"Sounds like you've had a pretty fulfilling life," Fay responded in awe.

"I bet you've met a lot of famous trainers, right?" Brittany asked.

"Oh, yes indeed. I've gotten to know a lot of the champions personally. I regularly attend Elite 4 meetings as a 'member emeritus,' and still keep in contact with many of my old students, many of whom competed in the Johto League, either before or after taking my courses."

"That's incredible…" Niko said with an expression of surprise.

"Oh, indeed. Say, have any of you considered the gym challenge?"

Fay and Niko chuckled a little. "Actually, we're about to start it, as soon as we get to Violet City."

"Oh?" Mr. Pokémon looked particularly intrigued now. "Violet City…Falkner, right? I grew up with his grandfather, the previous gym leader. Falkner has led the gym for a while now…I remember when he first started as the gym leader. Gosh, that was ages ago…anyways! He's a very nice young man. Strong, and quick as a whip, but very kind. He has certainly grown up."

"That's great to hear!" Niko responded, feeling comfortable around the old man now.

"Indeed. So…have you both just recently started your journeys?"

"Not at all!" JJ answered. "We just arrived from Kanto. We spent the last year travelling there, and Niko and Fay competed in the Indigo League last spring. Fay made it to the top 8!"

"Top 8…not bad for a beginner. What about you, Niko? Did you compete?"

"Niko made it into the top 32," JJ interrupted as his friend was about to respond. Fay gave him a dead arm in response to his sudden carelessness. "Ow…that hurt man."

"I know," Fay said plainly.

"Top 32…not bad either. In all honesty, the way I see it, the very act of competing is all that matters. As long as you give it your all, you can't fail. A lot of trainers don't participate, either because they didn't meet the registration deadline, or they didn't feel comfortable or confident enough in themselves to compete. As a wise man used to say, showing up is half the battle!" This made Niko, who wasn't pleased with his performance at Indigo Plateau, feel a bit better about himself. Would this help him get over his loss?

As Mr. Pokémon was about to get up to grab some blanket to set the egg in, he noticed it beginning to wiggle a little.

"Oh? Looks like it's going to hatch!" He said excitedly, sitting back down to observe the incredible event. The egg began to glow and change shape, resulting in a little pale green pokémon with a large leaf on its head.

"You were right, Mr. Pokémon!" Brittany said excitedly, "It was a chikorita!"

"Guess I was right, huh?" Mr. Pokémon said, chuckling as he looked down at the leaf pokémon. "Why hello there, little one. Thank you for bringing joy into our lives with your birth," He then turned to the four trainers surrounding him. "So…which one of you wants it?"

Fay, Niko, JJ, and Brittany all looked at each other, unsure of how to respond to such a question. After what seemed like forever, Niko eventually spoke up.

"I think JJ should take care of it. After all, he carried it most of the way from New Bark Town, and he did a great job raising his growlithe, which also came from an egg."

Mr. Pokémon smiled warmly as he looked over to JJ. The curly-haired trainer nodded happily, indicating his interest. "I would love to take care of the chikorita. Thank you so much!"

"Ah, boy, you deserve it. I really enjoy seeing trainers bond with their pokémon, new and old. It gives me life and raises my spirits. So, chikorita, meet your new trainer, JJ. He would love to take you on all of his new adventures."

The little leaf pokémon looked up as JJ grabbed a pokéball and lightly tapped on the grass type. The pokémon went into the red and white ball, which wiggled in JJ's hands a few times before ultimately clicking. JJ immediately summoned the new addition to his team.

"Hi, chikorita. My name is JJ. I hope we can be friends!" He said, petting the leaf on his pokémon's head as it sat in Mr. Pokémon's lap. Chikorita smiled and cooed softly, indicating the pleasure it was feeling.

The group had a rather long lunch with Mr. Pokémon before heading back onto the road. "Kids, best of luck on your journey! Niko, Fay, I expect great things from you in the Silver Conference. Just remember—showing up is half the battle!"

"We will, Mr. Pokémon. And…thanks, for all of the advice!" Niko responded, looking down and shaking the old man's hand. Fay, JJ, and Brittany all did the same. Continuing northwards past a soon to be setting sun the group, now one member larger (and several pieces of advice wiser), walked off to Violet City, and Niko and Fay's first Johto gym battle.


	4. Episode 4: Dunsparce Man

**Episode 4: Dunsparce Man**

After the meeting with Mr. Pokémon, where JJ received a baby chikorita and Niko got helpful advice about battling and life, the group continued northwest towards Violet City. There, Niko and Fay would challenge Falkner, the first gym leader in Johto. One day, they found themselves caught in a heavy rain, and sought a small cave entrance for shelter. Walking inside, JJ commanded growlithe to use ember to provide some light (and warmth) while the group settled down for the rest of the day.

Sitting down on a nearby rock, Niko looked out and watched the rain. Back at home, it didn't rain much, neither in Vermilion nor in Pallet, so it wasn't often that he got to appreciate the serenity of the falling drops of water. Fay, who grew up in the same environment, also found the rain to be calming, and sent out cyndaquil to watch it. The fire type didn't seem nearly as scared of water as it was of fire, but that didn't mean much, considering the fire mouse backed away at first.

"Guys, this cave…it doesn't seem to end!" JJ said, his voice echoing on the cave walls. He walked back, growlithe at his side, but it took a while for the rest of the group to see them.

"How far down does it go?" Niko asked.

"No idea, it's hard to see, even with light. Not sure it's worth exploring, to be honest."

"Agreed. Let's just wait out the rain and get back on the road. We're about a day's walk from Violet, anyways," Brittany added, laying down on her sleeping bag.

As they all began to rest, they heard something running towards them, through the dark. It was a large, yellow rattlesnake with small white wings on the side of its body. It tried leaping through the air a couple of times, but failed to fly and instead crashed back into the ground. Nevertheless, it slithered and jumped towards the entrance of the cave and, incidentally, the group.

"What the hell is that?" Fay said, immediately getting up and grabbing cyndaquil.

"No idea…" Niko said as the rattlesnake approached. "Looks like a yellow…snake? But it's too big to be one…hm," He pulled out his pokédex:

" _Dunsparce, the land snake pokémon. Normal type. It hides deep inside caves where no light ever reaches it and remains virtually motionless there_."

"If it hides deep in caves, then why is it coming outside?"

The dunsparce looked up at the group, with an expression of panic resting on its face. It started fidgeting on the ground, as if it wanted something. Cyndaquil, who was already out of its pokéball, jumped out of Fay's arms and walked over to it. The two communicated for a moment before walking into the darkness.

"Cyndaquil!" Fay said, running after his starter pokémon. "Where're you going?"

The fire mouse pointed in the direction that JJ had come from earlier. Fay looked confused, but ultimately followed his pokémon's judgment, and walked with the dunsparce. JJ and growlithe followed, leaving Niko and Brittany to watch their stuff.

JJ and Fay followed the dunsparce through the dark cave for what seemed like eternity. Eventually they reached a much larger cavern that was dimly lit. The path they took declined slightly and led them to a trainer sitting at the edge of a large body of water. Dunsparce slithered over to what Fay and JJ presumed to be its trainer.

"Are you okay sir?" Fay asked as he jogged over, cyndaquil by his side. The trainer was a young man, roughly the same age as Fay and JJ. He had short black hair, glasses, and wore a light grey hoodie with baggy jeans. He seemed to be gripping his knee, and had a pained look on his face. He finally noticed Fay and JJ looking down at him, and nodded in response.

"Fay, looks like he hurt his knee. Should we get him some help?"

Fay nodded as he got down to help lift the young man up. As he did so, he heard something approaching him from behind. Slowly turning around, he saw the shadow of what seemed to be a large creature. As the shadow got closer, it was revealed to be a small bear cub, staring at the group of trainers and pokémon.

"What is that?" Fay wondered, quickly pulling out his pokédex:

" _Teddiursa, the little bear pokémon. Normal type. It always licks honey. Its palm tastes sweet because of all the honey it has absorbed_."

"It looks cute…" JJ noted, "Wonder what it's up to."

"No idea. Anyways, let's go and get this guy back to our campsite first. Can we help you?" Fay asked. The young man nodded as he tried to stand up, and succeeded with the help of Fay and JJ, who both threw his arms over their shoulders. They walked back up the small incline and through the tunnel back to their campsite.

Niko and Brittany immediately sat back up as they saw their friends carrying a wounded man over their shoulders. "What's going on?"

"No idea, the dunsparce took us to a cavern where this trainer was sitting on the ground. Something must have happened to his knee," Fay said, "We figured it'd be best to bring him here first, and then go out looking for help."

"No worries, we'll think of something…" Niko said, and looked out to the forest that they had come from. The rain had stopped. He then got an idea. "Alright, hoothoot and I will go out and find someone. Now that the rain has stopped it won't be too difficult. Hoothoot can fly and I can run, so I don't think we'll be long."

JJ pulled out a pokéball and summoned beedrill. "Take beedrill with you, too. It'll help narrow down your search. Beedrill, we're looking for someone who can help this trainer. Can you go with Niko and hoothoot?"

The poison bee pokémon nodded, and then joined Niko and hoothoot as the three rushed back out towards route 30. Fay and Brittany then started to help out the injured trainer. Brittany grabbed some bandages that she had decided to bring with her, in the case of an injury. Meanwhile, Fay was cutting apart the jeans to reveal the wider cut.

"Oh my god…dude, what happened?" Fay asked as he examined the injury. It looked like the knee bone was broken in several places, as was his shin. Fay speculated in his mind that this trainer must have fallen from a high place and landed on this particular knee, but he didn't know for sure. The trainer pulled out a small notebook and began to write in it. He then showed the notebook to Fay.

"Your name is…Dunsparce Man?" Fay said, reading the notebook. Dunsparce Man then wrote in it again. "Ah, you don't want to tell me your real name. That's fine. How did you get this injury?" He waited for the man to respond in his notebook. "You got in a fight? Damn…did you get thrown around or something?" Dunsparce Man nodded, and continued writing.

The two kept up the exchange for a bit while Brittany helped patch up the wound. As Dunsparce Man began to stand up again, he shrieked out loud and fell back onto the ground. His dunsparce slithered over to his side in comfort. Brittany, feeling a little frustrated, unwrapped the bandages and tried again.

As this moment, she noticed something glowing in the distance, from the cave. Moments later, the teddiursa that Fay and JJ had seen earlier was back, this time with honey on its paws.

"What the…?" Brittany said out loud, confused by the appearance of the little bear.

"That's a teddiursa. We saw it in the same cavern with Dunsparce Man. We weren't sure what it was doing there, and still not quite sure why it's here," JJ replied. The teddiursa continued walking up to them, its paws covered in amber-colored honey.

That's when Fay got an idea. "Wait guys…this little guy might be on to something."

Brittany immediately caught on. "Honey can be used to heal wounds! Sure, it won't repair the bones, but it can at least soothe the knee and help stop any infections!" She then motioned the teddiursa over to them. "Hey, may we use some of that honey to heal our friend?"

The little bear nodded, walking up to Dunsparce Man and rubbing the honey on the knee. Brittany then wrapped several layers of bandage over the honey. They then laid Dunsparce Man down on Fay's sleeping bag to let him rest. His dunsparce lay next to him on the cold ground of the cave, both quickly falling asleep.

"I wonder why he doesn't talk…" Brittany wondered as they watched the trainer and pokémon resting.

"No idea, but hey, everyone has something unique, right? This is just his…" Fay responded. He then looked over at the teddiursa. "By the way, thanks for helping out. We really appreciate it," The normal type smiled in return, slightly infecting Fay with its adorable face. "My name is Fay, by the way. And this is my cyndaquil. We're traveling through the Johto region," He reached his hand out to shake teddiursa's. The bear responded, returning the handshake with its sticky paw. Fay chuckled a little as he tried to let go of the sticky paw.

"You like the teddiursa, don't you Fay?" Brittany said.

"I guess so. It's pretty adorable, that's for sure. I wonder how good it would be in battle," That's when he got the idea to catch teddiursa. "Say, would you like to join us? Cyndaquil and I would like to see you battle."

The little bear looked up at Fay as he stood up and walked out of the cave, cyndaquil running behind him. For a moment, the teddiursa looked unsure, but eventually followed Fay, accepting the challenge to battle.

"Alright cyndaquil, let's use tackle!" Fay commanded. The fire mouse, albeit a little reluctantly, rushed towards teddiursa. The little bear responded with a rather devastating scratch attack, slashing at its opponent and sending it a few feet to the side. Cyndaquil got up, looking very hurt, and rushed again at teddiursa. This time, the normal type dodged the tackle and slammed into the fire mouse, sending both of them into the wet grass.

It was at this time that Fay decided to throw out a pokéball, realizing that cyndaquil wasn't going to do too much damage to teddiursa anyways. The little bear went into the pokéball, wiggling around a few times before ultimately clicking. Fay walked over and picked up the pokéball. Looking down at cyndaquil, he smiled.

"Great job buddy, you helped me catch a pokémon!" Cyndaquil, who looked a little ashamed of its battle performance, smiled meekly. Fay then picked up the fire mouse and walked back to the cave entrance.

"You caught it?" JJ asked, only to see Fay nod in response. "That's awesome! The battle looked intense. Teddiursa seems to be a strong pokémon for sure!"

Fay nodded as he released teddiursa so that cyndaquil and the rest of the group could meet it. A couple hours later, Niko, hoothoot, and beedrill returned with an Officer Jenny from a nearby center. As it turns out, there are police outposts on long routes all throughout the Johto Region. Officer Jenny—with the help of Fay and JJ—picked up Dunsparce Man and carried him to the sidecar of her motorcycle.

"Thank you for patching him up…" Officer Jenny said. "I'll take him to Violet City, that's the nearest pokémon center. Also…is there…honey in this bandage?"

Brittany laughed out loud. "Yeah! Fay's teddiursa helped provide the honey. We figured since it has healing benefits, it would help stop any possible infections."

"Well, that's quite innovative of you kids. I'll tell Nurse Joy about this. Anyways, I'll be off!" She said as Dunsparce Man wrote a quick "thank you" in his notebook and, after returning his dunsparce to its pokéball, waved goodbye as he rode away with Officer Jenny.

Back in the cave, Niko exchanged stories with the rest of the group. It took a while to find anyone remotely close to the cave due to the rain. Hoothoot had eventually found the police outpost and the rest was history. However, he seemed more interested in what had happened at the cave.

"So wait…this 'Dunsparce Man' doesn't talk? At all?" Fay nodded. "How odd…wonder why…also, did you actually catch a teddiursa?" Fay nodded again, pointing to the little bear sleeping next to cyndaquil on his sleeping bag. "Wow! It's adorable!"

"That's what I said!" Fay responded cheerily. "Anyways, we should make some food now. It's getting pretty late, and we have a lot of walking to do tomorrow."

"That's true," JJ added, "If we walk most of the day, we'll make it to Violet City in the afternoon!"

The group then got to work cooking up food for the night while their pokémon rested. It had been another long day for them. With a few new friends, one of them permanent, the group of trainers continued their journey the following day, with Niko and Fay's first gym battle on their minds.


	5. Episode 5: Elliot returns!

**Episode 5: Elliot returns!**

"So, back to Sprout Tower…" A black-haired kid said as he looked up at the three-tiered pagoda in front of him. He proceeded to walk inside, only to be greeted by a rather familiar monk. The bald man smiled cheerily as he approached the kid.

"Elliot, welcome back, son."

"It's great to be back, I guess. How is Elder Li doing?"

"He is doing just fine. Got up from a nap, actually. He is about to go and meditate, if you wish to join him."

"I think I'll pass on that. I came here to train. I'm planning on challenging Falkner."

"Oh? Well, I wish you only the best, young Elliot. If you would like to train, I'm sure Jin is around. He'd love to see you and how much you've improved."

"Great, I think I'll go and look for him. Is he at the training grounds?" The monk nodded. "Great, see you later, Nico!"

* * *

"Guys, we've made it to Violet City!" JJ said, looking down the path at a large stone arch that indicated the city entrance. The group followed him in equally as eager that they finally reached another city. The journey to Violet City had taken longer than they had expected. Fay and Niko wanted some time to train their pokémon, and so the lunch and dinner breaks had taken longer than expected the previous day, making it so they reached Violet City in a day and a half, as opposed to a single day.

They found the pokémon center almost immediately, going through their usual routine of healing up their pokémon and grabbing food. While eating, JJ was looking through their pamphlet. Since Fay and Niko both agreed to take another day or so to train, they put off their gym match until the following day, leaving JJ and Brittany to tour around the city.

While he was perusing the booklet, he found the only thing of interest of any of them. "Guys, check this out. Violet City is known for this place called Sprout Tower. Apparently it's this large pagoda building that uh is held together by a pillar that _moves_."

"Moves…?" Fay inquired.

"Yeah! It moves! It's also a training ground for trainers and acts as an academy for monks from all over the world. It says here that the monks come here to learn that 'all living beings coexist through cooperation.'"

"Hmm, well, we could go check that out, right guys? Maybe we can learn something new that will help Fay and I beat Falkner!" Niko said eagerly, pumping his fist slightly.

Moments later, after finishing lunch, the group went to Sprout Tower, which was just north of the pokémon center. Walking inside, they first noticed the moving pillar, which JJ found particularly fascinating. They were immediately approached by a monk, who identified himself as Nico.

"Oh, hey! His name is Niko, too!" JJ said as he shook the monk's hand.

"Ah, nice name. Anyways, how can I help you kids?"

"We're not kids!" JJ snapped back. "Anyways, we're just here to check the place out."

"Ah, well my apologies then. I'll be more considerate next time," Nico said softly, bowing to indicate apology. "And sure, I can give you a tour of the place if you would like."

So Nico took the group on a tour of the three-story tower, introducing the group to the various monks that they passed by. During the tour, he discussed the teachings of the tower. "Legend has it that a 100-foot bellsprout was used to make this swaying pillar, hence the name Sprout Tower. It also protects the tower from earthquakes."

"How long have you been here?" Brittany asked.

"About 20 years, actually. Came here as a kid. I actually got my first pokémon, a bellsprout, here. Do you guys live here? Or are you from elsewhere?"

"We're all from the Kanto region, actually. Fay and I are in Violet City to challenge Falkner."

"Ah, Kanto is such a beautiful place. My parents grew up there, met on Cinnabar Island, actually. And, say, if you want to challenge Falkner, I have someone you might like to meet."

The group continued following Nico until they reached the third floor, where an Elderly man sat meditating. He looked up and quickly eyed Nico.

"Hello, Nico, how may I help you?"

"Elder Li, these two boys are visiting Violet City in hopes of challenging Falkner. They are here in particular as tourists."

"And…?" Elder Li said, giving Nico a curious look.

"Well, I figured that maybe you would like to help them out. Give them some pointers?"

Elder Li looked over at Niko and Fay, and then smirked. "Sure, I will meet you two on the training grounds."

Nico then led the group back down to the first floor, and then outside to the back of the tower. There, they noticed a large battlefield. However, two trainers were already battling. A monk with a bellsprout, and a familiar black-haired trainer with a scyther.

"Scyther, use wing attack!" Elliot commanded. The mantis pokémon rushed towards its grass type opponent, wings glowing white, before slamming into it and carrying it across the field. Bellsprout then fell to the ground, defeated.

"Elliot!" Fay said out loud, beckoning the young trainer. Elliot looked up to see his four friends walking over to him. "What're you up to?"

"Coming back to Sprout Tower before challenging Falkner. What about you?"

"Same here. But wait…what do you mean 'coming back?'"

"I trained here as a kid. My parents wanted me to become a monk at one point. They figured it might help me be a stronger trainer. So I was here with my eevee for a year before going on my journey in Kanto. Are you and Niko taking on the Johto gyms?" Fay nodded. "Great, well, I hope you do well against Falkner. I've heard he's a tough trainer."

"We've heard similar things," Fay responded. "Say, would you like to battle?" Elliot smirked, and then nodded in agreement.

The two went to opposite ends of the field and immediately summoned their pokémon. For a one-on-one battle, Fay chose teddiursa and Elliot chose a houndour. Unfamiliar, Fay pulled out his pokédex:

" _Houndour, the dark pokémon. Dark and Fire type. Around dawn, its ominous howl echoes through the area to announce that this is its territory_."

"Interesting choice, Elliot! Haven't seen a dark type before. Teddiursa, use scratch!"

"Houndour, respond with ember!" Elliot said as the dark pokémon unleashed small flames at its opponent's feet. The little bear jumped over the embers like they were hurdles and continued rushing towards its opponent, ultimately landing a successful scratch. Houndour then retaliated with a headbutt attack, followed up with an ember that temporarily subdued teddiursa.

"Teddiursa, wait for it to attack again. Patience is important for good battling…" Fay said softly enough for his newest pokémon to hear it. Houndour then rushed again with another headbutt. As it was about to hit, teddiursa quickly moved to the right and jumped onto the dark pokémon's back. It proceeded to scratch it several times before also subduing its opponent. Teddiursa leapt off houndour and stared its opponent down, panting a little. It was clear that the little bear didn't have much experience battling professionally. Neither did the houndour. Both ultimately collapsed onto the ground, resulting in a tie.

"Great job teddiursa! You did well for your first battle!" Fay said as he returned the little bear. Elliot did the same. "And same to you too, Elliot. That's an impressive pokémon you've got there."

"Thanks, Fay. We definitely need to do some work but otherwise I think it'll work out well."

Suddenly, they heard clapping in the background. It was Elder Li, who had evidently been watching the battle. He walked up to Elliot and Fay, peering down at them through his aging hazel eyes.

"You both did quite well. Have you considered taking on the gym challenge?"

"We already have, Master Li," Elliot began with a bow, "My friend and I actually challenged each other in the Indigo League last spring. It came down to a close match between the two of us, but Fay here ultimately won."

"Well, you are both excellent battlers. Now, I believe you wanted to train, is that correct?" Fay, Elliot, and Niko—who had moments ago joined the two—all nodded. "Very well, I would like to begin by battling one of you. You there," Li pointed to Niko, "Since the other two have battled each other, I would like to challenge you to a battle, if you will."

"I accept, Master Li," Niko said, bowing.

"Excellent. It will be a one-on-one battle. I want to see if you are ready to challenge Falkner. If you beat me, I expect that I will not have much advice for you. If I win, well, then I will have some words to say. Your two friends have clearly learned something in their adventures. Let's see if you have as well."

Elder Li walked to the same end of the field that Elliot stood at; Niko went to Fay's end. Before Niko could think about who he wanted to use, Li had summoned a bellsprout. Niko pulled out his pokédex, due to his unfamiliarity with the grass type:

" _Bellsprout, the flower pokémon. Grass and poison type. If it notices anything that moves, it immediately flings its vine at the object_."

"Alright then," Niko said, pondering what to do. He figured using hoothoot would be the reasonable option. But magnemite needed the training, since he expected the magnet pokémon would carry the battle against Falkner. After a few moments, he made a decision. "Hoothoot, I choose you!"

"Bellsprout, use sweet scent!" Li commanded. The flower pokémon unleashed a powerful smell from its mouth, causing the owl pokémon to hover over to it. Niko saw what was coming, and commanded it to use peck. "Bellsprout, stun spore!"

 _He's using the same strategy I do with ivysaur…_ Niko thought. _Alright then, we'll beat him at his own game_. "Hoothoot! Use…dammit, you're paralyzed…"

"Bellsprout, razor leaf!" Li shouted. The grass type then unleashed a flurry of sharp leaves at the flying type, rocketing it backwards and at Niko's heels. The trainer got down and rubbed hoothoot's head in an attempt to soothe his owl. The flying type then began to move moments later, blinking its eyes at Niko.

"Heh, let's win this, buddy," Niko said, standing back up. "Use peck!"

"Stun spore again!" Li said, attempting to use the same strategy.

"Hoothoot, fly high into the sky to dodge the spores!" Niko yelled out. The owl pokémon launching vertically into the air and, moments later, came crashing back down onto bellsprout, landing a powerful peck attack. Both pokémon fell into the dirt, with bellsprout getting up first. It didn't attack, though: it was glowing instead. "Oh no…hoothoot get out of the way!"

"Bellsprout, solarbeam!" Li cried out as his flower pokémon unleashed a powerful green beam of energy at hoothoot, sending the flying type crashing into the lowest roof on the pagoda. As hoothoot began to roll off of the declining roof, Niko rushed over and managed to catch it as it fell to the ground. Hoothoot had fainted.

"Niko…" Li said softly as he walked over, "Your hoothoot shows incredible potential. It's new, isn't it?" Niko nodded, "That's what I thought. My hoothoot was the same way. Bellsprout here—my first pokémon—has been with me for decades. I never expected you to beat me. I wanted to see how strong your bond was. And, well, you surprised me. Hoothoot seems to appreciate being your pokémon."

"Well, I sure hope so. It's pretty strong, that's for sure," Niko said, holding his owl, "Anyways, thank you for the battle. I want to point out that I have also used that stun spore/razor leaf combination before with my ivysaur."

"Oh? Well, looks like great minds think alike!" Li said with a laugh. "You three will go far; I can see it. You just have to keep doing what you're doing, and never give in to pessimism."

With that, Elder Li walked back into the tower, a trio of monks following him. Niko, Fay, and Elliot all watched the bellsprout master exit the field, and then looked at each other.

"I'd better get going, actually," Elliot said as the sun was beginning to set, "I want to get some training done before heading off to the gym tomorrow."

"Oh, you're challenging Falkner, too?" Niko asked. Elliot nodded in response, "Well, hope to see you there," he held out his hand. Elliot hesitated, but shook it with a smile.

"Heh, alright. Fay, JJ, Brittany, it was nice to see you all again."

"Alright Elliot! See you later!" JJ said, waving to their mutual friend and rival. "Say, guys, let's head off to the pokémon center! I'm actually ready for some food!"

"Sure, let's go, JJ," Fay said as the four following Elliot out of Sprout Tower and off to the pokémon center, the first gym battle on each of their minds.


	6. Episode 6: For the love of flying types!

**Episode 6: For the love of flying types!**

"Pidgeotto, gust!" A purple-haired trainer cried out loud. The bird pokémon flapped its wings furiously at its opponent, a scyther. The mantis pokémon ignored the powerful gust of wind and proceeded to slam into the flying type with a powerful wing attack, sending pidgeotto flying into a nearby column.

"Scyther, now use fury cutter!" Elliot commanded. Despite being a bug type move, the attack seemed to be enough to finish off the pidgeotto.

"Pidgeotto is unable to battle, scyther wins! And the victory goes to Elliot from Viridian City!"

* * *

 _An hour earlier_

Fay and Niko both seemed to be ready for their first Johto gym challenge, against Falkner of Violet City. The two trainers both woke up at similar times that morning and went out to do some last-minute training. It occurred to both of them that, between the two, Niko would have an easier time in this battle, due to his magnemite choosing to continue adventuring with him.

Being a much younger pokémon than the rest of his Kanto team, Niko was convinced that it would be best to bring the magnet pokémon along with him. He believed magnemite wanted to be strong one day. This battle was definitely it's time to shine. Niko also had three pokémon total, which allowed him more leverage over who to use and when to use them. Fay, on the other hand, had two pokémon, and one of them was frightened of battling.

However, make no mistake; Niko is not underestimating Falkner. Everything they have heard about Falkner has been that he is not an easy trainer to defeat. None of the Johto leaders are, for that matter. Even though he had a natural advantage, he also had that versus Brock and Misty in Kanto, and neither of those were easy wins, either.

The two continued training for roughly half an hour; Niko worked with totodile and hoothoot on their respective move sets, in addition to focusing on totodile's speed. Knowing flying types from the experience of raising one, Niko figured that speed would likely play a role in this fight. Fay, on the other hand, had cyndaquil and teddiursa working on his dodging techniques, just as he had done with his charmander and mankey when he first started journeying in Kanto.

Walking back to the pokémon center, the two sat down and quickly finished breakfast with Brittany and JJ before rushing off to the gym.

"They seem pretty eager, don't they?" Brittany asked as she got out of a booth.

JJ nodded, seeming satisfied with his friend's determination. "They definitely need this. I'm glad that they're both excited to get this gym challenge started."

"Were they like this when they challenged Brock?"

"Kinda. We all were pretty stoked," JJ said, suddenly reflecting on their battles in the Pewter gym. "Anyways, let's get going. C'mon, growlithe," JJ said, summoning his puppy pokémon, who had graduated from being carried to walking side-by-side with its trainer.

The Violet City gym was a spiraling tower that seemed to pierce the heavens. Niko and Fay had already entered the gym, leaving Brittany and JJ to find their way through. The inside of the gym was not what they had expected. There didn't seem to be any battlefield, just a spiral staircase that led them up through the tower.

"Err…I guess the battlefield is up there?" JJ questioned, pointing up the tower to what looked like a small exit at the top.

"Sure looks like it. This'll be fun…" Brittany said as she began the trek up the stairs.

Eventually the two made it to the top, JJ exhausted. He dropped onto his rear and looked at the roof. There was a rather large battlefield, with four columns at each corner, and from the looks of it there was already a battle going on. JJ immediately recognized the challenger as Elliot. The black-haired trainer was commanding his scyther to use fury cutter in what seemed to be the final blow of the match.

"Pidgeotto is unable to battle, scyther wins! The victory goes to Elliot from Viridian City!" A judge declared.

Elliot walked up to a tall purple-haired trainer, presumably Falkner, and received the badge before turning around and noticing he had an audience. Niko and Fay, who had arrived much earlier, walked up and talked with their rival about the match, but the conversation was short lived as Elliot proceeded to sit on a nearby bench to watch their matches.

"Are you two challengers as well?" Falkner asked, only to get two nods from his prospective challengers. "Excellent, let me go heal up my pokémon first and then we'll do battle."

A minute later and Falkner had returned. Fay had offered to go first this time, and stood at one end of the field opposing the gym leader.

"This will be a two-on-two battle. Are you ready, challenger?" Fay nodded, holding out his own pokéball. "Great, then pidgey! I choose you!"

"Cyndaquil, you're up!" Fay shouted out as he summoned the fire mouse. "Be careful, buddy, flying types can be finicky."

"That's not true!" Falkner shouted back. "Flying types are majestic beings, they are not to be insulted. Pidgey, use quick attack!"

"Cyndaquil, wait for it…" Fay said softly as pidgey approached. "Now, jump on its back!" The fire type leapt onto pidgey's back. However, since the bird pokémon was pretty small, it collapsed on the ground from the weight of cyndaquil. "Now, use tackle!"

"Why isn't cyndaquil using a fire move? Wouldn't that just be easier?" Elliot, who decided to watch the match, wondered.

"This cyndaquil is, well, afraid of fire…" JJ explained, "Fay wants to work on it, but only at a pace that is best for cyndaquil."

"That's odd…a fire type that doesn't like fire…"

"I don't think there's anything wrong with it," Niko began, much to Elliot's surprise, "I mean, everyone is afraid of something, right?"

"Yeah, but it's a _fire_ type. As in, it specializes in _fire_ ," Elliot snapped back. "That's weird!"

Fay could hear the argument beginning as he was trying to battle, frowning in displeasure. He chose to ignore it and continue battling. Pidgey had regained flight and made it more difficult for cyndaquil to do much.

"Alright, you know what? Let's try it. Cyndaquil, use ember!"

This seemed like a mistake, at first. The fire mouse, who was afraid of even trying to use a fire move, attempted it. However, only smoke came out of its mouth, and it came out in small puffs. Then Fay got another idea.

"Cyndaquil, keep it up! Use smokescreen!"

The fire type, realizing that it might be doing something right, belted out a larger puff of smoke, engulfing the field and making it difficult for pidgey to see.

"Pidgey, use gust!" Falkner commanded to get rid of the smokescreen. It took some time, due to pidgey's smaller and weaker wings, but the smoke eventually dissipated. "Now, go down low and use mud slap!"

"Cyndaquil, dodge and use tackle!" Fay commanded. The fire mouse was able to successfully evade the mud thrown in its face, and tackled the flying type in the side, knocking it down. Before cyndaquil could run in for another attack, Falkner and pidgey were ready.

"Sand attack! And follow up with mud slap!"

Pidgey kicked dirt into cyndaquil's eyes using its talons and, while the fire type couldn't see, followed up with a mud slap, finishing cyndaquil.

"Cyndaquil is unable to battle, pidgey wins! Fay will now send out his second pokémon!" The judge declared.

"Teddiursa, you're up!" Fay commanded, summoning his most recent addition. "Use scratch!"

"Sand attack, pidgey!" Falkner cried out. Teddiursa closed its eyes as it rushed forward. Although its scratch missed, it was able to dodge the sand attack. Opening its eyes back up again, it watched as pidgey circled around it, waiting for another attack. Falkner then ordered a quick attack from behind. Teddiursa turned around and slashed the bird pokémon in the face with near precise timing, sending its opponent several feet to the side.

"Pidgey is unable to battle, teddiursa wins! Leader Falkner will now send out his second pokémon!" The judge declared.

"Pidgeotto, I choose you! Use gust!"

"Teddiursa, stand your ground!" Fay commanded. The little bear gripped at the ground, trying to stand completely still. The gust ended and pidgeotto went in for a wing attack. The little bear jumped into the air and did what cyndaquil originally attempted to do. It grabbed onto the bird pokémon's neck as it flew around in the air. Falkner, panicking a little, ordered his pokémon to speed up and fly in circles, in an attempt to throw teddiursa off. "Don't give in, teddiursa! You can do it!"

The little bear was about to land a devastating scratch on pidgeotto's back when it suddenly began to falter and ultimately fell off of the bird pokémon. Fortunately, it still managed to grab onto the flying type's talon, and began to pull downwards as the two pokémon crashed into the ground creating a cloud of dust.

"Pidgeotto, are you okay?" Falkner asked, almost desperately. His bird nodded as it stood up, looking at its trainer. "Good, use wing attack!"

"Teddiursa, let's keep going! Wait for it, and dodge when the time is right…" Fay commanded. The attack got close, and teddiursa successfully evaded once again, but was unable to land a counter attack. Pidgeotto then turned around and rushed back towards its opponent. The little bear was again ready, but it did not evade quickly enough, taking the wing attack head on. The normal type fell to the ground as its opponent swooped back down and tried landing a quick attack. To this teddiursa successfully dodged and, as pidgeotto was reeling from the damage done to it from the dive-bomb, launched a series of scratch attacks that ultimately subdued the bird pokémon.

"Pidgeotto is unable to battle, teddiursa wins! The victory goes to Fay from Pallet Town!" The judge declared.

"Good match, kid," Falkner said as he approached Fay. "Your teddiursa is pretty strong, I'll admit. Keep it up. Anyways, I believe there was another challenger?" Niko nodded as he stood up and traded places with Fay. Falkner went to go heal his pokémon and was back within a few minutes.

"This will be a two-on-two match between Leader Falkner and his challenger, Niko from Pallet Town," The judge declared.

"Pidgey you're up!" Falkner shouted out.

"Hoothoot, let's go!" Niko commanded. "Use peck!"

"Pidgey, gust!"

Hoothoot felt the gust of wind collide with it. Niko immediately encouraged it to keep flying through, but the gust proved to be too powerful, knocking the owl backwards. However, hoothoot regained control of itself and rushed forward again with peck. Pidgey retaliated with a quick attack, causing the two birds to collide midair.

"Hoothoot, turn around and use peck again!" Niko cried out.

"Pidgey, gust!" Falkner repeated with the understanding that it would likely succeed a second time.

Hoothoot shot higher into the air, the gust attack propelling it. Once it was roughly a hundred feet above the battlefield, it took a deep dive back to the ground, aiming directly for pidgey. Its body began to glow as it slammed into its opponent, causing both bird pokémon to crash into the ground.

The judge eyed both hoothoot and pidgey for a moment before declaring a winner. "Both pidgey and hoothoot are unable to battle, the round is a tie! Falkner and Niko will both send out their final pokémon!"

"Pidgeotto, go!"

"Magnemite, I choose you!" Niko cried out, much to Falkner's dismay.

"Ugh, an electric type. Of course," the gym leader said, a look of disappointment clouding his face. "A cheap tactic by trainers who challenge me, thinking that it'll be easy to just use thundershock. And ZAP! Flying types—done! Not this time, kid, you won't win."

"We'll see about that. Magnemite, thundershock!"

"So predictable. Pfft. Pidgeotto, mud slap!" Falkner commanded. The bird pokémon, dodging a spark of electricity, got down low to the ground and shot a wave of mud towards its opponent. Magnemite, being more adept at dodging than it used to be, quickly evaded the mud and rushed to slam into its opponent, using thundershock in the process. The attack succeeded, sending pidgeotto tumbling backwards into the ground.

"Magnemite, use thundershock again!" Niko yelled out.

"Pidgeotto, dodge and use wing attack!" Falkner said. The flying type waited for its opponent to release its electricity before moving in to attack at close range. It repeatedly attempted to whack the electric type with its glowing white wings, but the magnet evaded nearly each one. Eventually, however, pidgeotto managed to whack magnemite, sending it into the wall behind Niko, and nearly falling down the stairs under it.

"Magnemite, get up!" Niko said. Magnemite began to hover again at eye-level with Niko. "Let's finish this, buddy," magnemite nodded. Both turned to Falkner and pidgeotto. "You might not like electric types, but you have to learn to live with them. Magnemite, use thunder wave!"

This seemed to be Niko's trump card. He had read about the move in a magazine while they were in Cherrygrove City, and figured he might try to teach it to magnemite. The little magnet pokémon rushed forward, sending electric sparks all around it, including towards pidgeotto, who was able to dodge it by flying high upwards.

"Niko, please, it's like you've never owned a flying type," Falkner said, smirking.

"Actually, I have. I own a pidgeot. Magnemite, hover up to pidgeotto's level and use thunder wave again!"

Magnemite launched upwards, pushing the limits of its still nascent hovering abilities. It then released another thunder wave and, seeing pidgeotto dodge it, proceeded to get closer. Eventually, it nixed the idea of thunder wave and just used thundershock up close, enduring a couple wing attacks in the process before defeating the pidgeotto.

"Pidgeotto is unable to battle, magnemite wins! And the victory goes to Niko from Pallet Town!"

"Yes magnemite! We did it!" Niko said as he ran over to embrace his electric type, who shocked him slightly to communicate its own happiness. Fay then joined him in the center of the field.

Falkner was silent for a moment, clearly not pleased that an electric type beat him—again. He begrudgingly held out two silver-colored badges, both in the shape of a pair of wings. "Congrats to the both of you, here is proof that you have beaten me: the zephyr badge. Keep training, and I think you'll both do well in the future."

He then left the rooftop, presumably to go heal his pokémon. The group followed him, parting ways a few moments later to leave the gym.

"Hey, Elliot, want to grab lunch with us?" JJ asked as they exited the gym.

"Err…no thanks, JJ. I have to get going, actually. I said I'd meet with an old friend to train. Thanks for the offer, though."

"Oh, no worries man. See ya later!" The curly-blonde said, waving to their rival as he walked off. He then motioned his friends to the pokémon center, where they planned to recollect and figure out the next leg of their journey.

During lunch, Niko asked JJ where they wanted to head next. Pulling out the pamphlet, he listed off a couple of options. "So, there's a gym in Ecruteak City, that's definitely the closest. But it says here that if we go south, and then back up north, we'll hit two other gyms—Azalea and Goldenrod—on the way. That might actually be the better path, since it'll get you both more gym badges."

"Let's do that, then," Fay responded, "Where's the closest city on that path?"

"Looks like Azalea Town. The gym leader uses bug types."

"Hmm, sounds like it'll be fun!" Niko said, sort of sarcastically. He didn't like to admit it, but he was never the biggest fan of bugs. Some, like beedrill, were fine. It was others, ones with multiple legs, that creeped him out. "How far is Azalea Town?"

"Err…like a week? It's pretty far south, actually."

"Well, it'll give us plenty of time to prepare for that gym, then!" Niko said, more ecstatically this time. The group continued to finish their lunch, confident in the next leg of their journey, and ready to hit the road again.


	7. Episode 7: Into the Unown!

**Episode 7: Into the Unown!**

Later that afternoon, after receiving the zephyr badge from Falkner, the group began trekking southwards towards Azalea Town. There, Niko and Fay would compete for their second Johto gym badge, against a bug type trainer named Bugsy. The journey would take them through route 32, 33, and Union Cave. However, first they decided to stop at one of the tourist spots in Johto, according to JJ. This was called The Ruins of Alph.

The Ruins of Alph are a series of caves that are all interconnected in some way. They are also said to be the home of a mysterious pokémon called unown. As they approached the ruins, they noticed groups of people far older than they examining the ruins.

JJ walked up to one of them, tapping him on the shoulder. The older man jumped, turning around and looking rather terrified. "Excuse me, sir, we're here to tour the ruins. Could you give us some advice on where to start?"

The man looked at them quizzically. "Leave. That's my advice."

"Wait…but why?" said JJ, following up.

"There are, err…some problems with the ruins right now. It is strongly advised that no one enter the ruins," he said nervously, shooing the group away before turning around and getting back to his work examining the walls.

"Why is he allowed to be here but we can't?" JJ wondered, looking a little distraught.

"He probably has some sort of security clearance. Maybe he's like a detective or something?" Fay replied, throwing any possible options on the table.

"Well, screw it. Let's go check it out!" JJ said, looking around before speed-walking into one of the cave entrances west of the older man, the other three following closely behind.

Inside, they saw a large small room with a series of tablets that seemed to be misplaced. "What d'ya think this is?" Niko wondered, walking up to the tablets and running his hand over them, producing a small puff of dust, which caused the trainer to cough a little.

"Well, maybe it's supposed to be some other picture, sort of like a puzzle?" Fay wondered, removing one of the tablets. Noticing that there weren't any triggers, he kept removing them and placing them on the floor below him. He then started rearranging the tablets one the ground, trying to see if they all fit together. "Looks like this is a wing, and that's an eye, are those claws? Is that a beak?" He said as he shuffled them around, eventually finding a reasonable-looking picture.

"What the hell is this?" JJ asked, not quite sure what to make of it.

"Dunno, looks like a pokémon?" Fay said, standing back up. "Could you help me place them back on the wall?"

Niko, JJ, and Brittany agreed to do so, eventually placing each piece in the order that Fay had rearranged them into. But nothing happened.

"Huh? I thought maybe it would trigger something…" asked Fay curiously. He then stepped back a few paces to look at the picture in its totality.

"Maybe you misplaced two of them?" Brittany suggested, also stepping back to view it. Fay nodded, and then walked back to switch two of the bottom tablets.

It must have worked, since the wall began to glow and the chamber began to shake, resulting in a hole appearing underneath the group. They fell through the hole and landed on their rears in another chamber, albeit a much darker one.

"Where are we _now_?" JJ asked, seeming a little panicked.

"Again dude, I have no idea. Wait…what's that?" He said as he saw something moving through the dim light of the room. Then more small black things began flying around the room, circling around the group. Fay pulled out his pokédex:

" _Unown, the symbol pokémon. Their shapes look like hieroglyphs on ancient tablets. It is said that the two are somehow related_."

"Unown, hmm…JJ, isn't that the pokémon you were mentioning earlier?" JJ nodded, "Well, we found them. Do we need to fight them?"

"No idea," Niko responded, despite holding out a pokéball in defense. "But we might as well be prepared, right?"

Turns out, they didn't have to be. The chamber lit up, revealing a larger wall in front of them. The swarm of unown then proceeded to stick to the wall, forming a series of what seemed to be words. The group walked up to it.

"These look like letters of the alphabet…" Brittany said, examining the first one. "This is 'w', the next one…is that 'e'?"

"It's a code for something, but what?" Niko said, continuing to decipher the unown's message. After a couple minutes, they managed to figure it out.

"So, it says 'We humans need to walk with them. We leave here for the sake of them.' What does that mean?" Fay asked after reading the coded message. As he finished his question, the unown jumped off of the walls and swarmed the group, circling them at high speeds, making it difficult to see what was happening outside.

They then suddenly felt a loss of hearing as they disappeared from the ruins to somewhere radically different.

It was now snowing.

"Wh-what i-is th-th-this?" JJ asked, shivering. He looked around him, noticing that they were in a small canyon-like area. Down the way was a small entrance to lord knows where. To their right was a little log cabin. The group took the latter route, knocking on the door when they made it.

A burly, middle-aged man opened the door, and gave the four trainers a look that mixed confusion and concern. "Who the hell are you kids?"

"Uh…" JJ began, trying to speak, "My na-name is JJ. This is Niko, Brittany, and Fay, sir. We have no idea why we're here."

"Yeah…" Fay continued, trying to brave the cold, "We were at The Ruins of Alph and—"

"Wait just a minute! Who let you kids in the ruins?" He said, raising his voice. "Bah, get in here before ya freeze," he said, motioning them inside. The cabin seemed homely enough: there was a bed, a fireplace, a couch with a small table and rug. The group crowded onto the couch in front of the fireplace, holding out their hands to warm up.

"We accidentally stumbled on the ruins, sir," Niko said. This was only half-true, but he went with it, "we solved on of the puzzles and then the unown sent us here. Actually, _where_ is here?"

The man crossed his arms, looking less concerned. "This is the Sinjoh Ruins. You were, for whatever reason, teleported here by the unown."

"Where are the Sinjoh Ruins?" asked Fay.

"Not in Johto, nor Sinnoh. To be honest, I have no idea where it is on the map, but it's definitely far to the north of both regions."

"What's 'Sinnoh'?" Niko asked.

"Why, it's a region, of course!" the man answered. "Like Kanto, or Johto, or Hoenn. The Sinnoh region is known for its legends regarding space and time travel. Legend has it that the pokémon in control of space and time once resided here, along with their creator, the god of all pokémon, Arceus."

"Wow…" Fay responded, fascinated. From what Niko has observed, Fay had never been particularly interested in history or legends, but now he was clearly interested. Maybe going on a journey around the world forced him to be more invested?

"It's incredible, isn't it?" the man said, sitting down. He stroked his long beard for a while before continuing. "Now, I have no idea how to get you kids back to Johto. That's why I'm here—I'm stuck."

"Sir…" Brittany began, catching the man's interest, "we were told not to go into the ruins by some researcher there. Is there any particular reason why?"

"Some say that the ruins are unstable right now, at least it was when I left the ruins. There is speculation of a connection between the unown and Arceus, but since no one has ever seen it, there is no way to really know for sure. However, scientists monitoring the ruins have noticed frequent fluctuations in the energy levels within the ruins, again, back when I was in Johto. I've occasionally noticed activity around here, but it isn't very often. I don't know if anything has changed, as I've been gone for quite some time.

"Anyways, since the ruins have been unstable it is not recommended that tourists visit. That's how you end up here. At least, that's how it seems for you four."

"Well, we've got to figure out how to get back out of here," Fay said, standing back up. He seemed adequately warm now.

"But Fay, we don't know how to do that," Niko said, also standing up.

"Well, maybe we go check out the ruins?" he answered, turning to the man, "Have you tried that before?"

The man shook his head, "No, no I have not."

"Well then," Fay said, walking to the door. As he opened it, a flurry of cold air slammed into his body, causing him to momentarily shiver. "Err…that's pretty cold…"

"Here, take these…" the man said, grabbing a few of his extra coats. "Maybe you'll find these useful."

Each trainer put a coat on before adventuring out to the ruins. Luckily, they weren't very far, only a few minutes of walking and they reached the entrance, which was very much open.

There was only a single room within the ruins. In front of them were six pokémon statues, three on each side leading up a large stage in the shape of a triangle. Niko and Fay walked up to it, the other three not seeming as courageous. Even the old man, who clearly had never been in here before, didn't bother with the stage.

As Niko and Fay stood on the stage, they examined their surroundings before being nearly knocked off of their feet. An earthquake erupted under them and, right in front of them a portal appeared. Out of it came a large, light purple creature. Niko and Fay both pulled out their pokédex, but it wasn't responding. This creature clearly wasn't from the Johto or Kanto regions.

"Guys!" the man shouted out. "Get away! That's the legendary pokémon palkia! It'll kill you!"

Hearing this, Niko and Fay attempted to run away, only to both stumble down the stairs as a result of the earth still shaking. However, as they attempted to get back up, they noticed the portal had gotten much larger, revealing what seemed to be The Ruins of Alph. Niko and Fay looked at each and, nodding, jumped into the portal.

"Niko! Fay!" Brittany cried out, running over and leaping into the portal after them. JJ followed suit and, soon enough, so did the man.

Niko and Fay landed back where they had started, only to frighten the unsuspecting scientist that they had previously met. He looked over at the two trainers, not seeming too happy.

"I _told you_ not to go in those ruins!" he yelled out. Suddenly, upon seeing the old man appear with them, his expression changed entirely. " _MARK?!_ "

"Heh, yep, that's me…" Mark said, dusting off his pants, "it's great to see ya again, Al."

"But…but but but…" Al stammered, trying to find the right words.

"Listen, let's go to your house and explain the whole story. These kids, stupid as they were, actually helped us out a bit in our research."

"We—we also have to contact the authorities! They mettled where they needn't have mettled!" Al said, glaring suspiciously at the group.

The six walked into Al's house, which was just south of the ruins, and discussed the whole story. "So…you saw palkia…" he said, scratching his chin. "Well, we need to inform Cynthia, that's for sure. And probably Lance."

"Who's Cynthia?" Niko asked.

"She's the champion of the Sinnoh region. She has also made it a hobby of hers to learn as much as possible about the legends in her region. As such, she has found herself here on multiple occasions, usually with Lance."

"Ah, I see…but if she only does it as a hobby, then why do you need to tell her? Why not other people in your field?" asked Fay.

"Well, we will," Mark explained, "but as champion she is also responsible for any dangers relating to her region. We fear that if palkia was showing up, then something might be happening to cause it to enter our world. But, that's just a hunch. Either way, we need to report it."

"Alright, let us know if we can help in any way," offered Niko, brushing dirt out of his untidy brown hair.

"Well, you've certainly done your part already. You helped me get back here, that's for sure. So I thank you for that," Mark said, offering out his hand to shake the group. They each returned the handshake in turn, and got up to leave until Al interrupted them.

"No! You kids aren't going anywhere! I'm phoning Officer Jenny right now. You kids are in trouble…" Al said, reaching for his flip phone.

"Al," said Mark, reaching for his colleague's arm, "Let them go. They've seen enough today. And they also helped me escape the Sinjoh Ruins, so I think they've made up plenty for their mistake in my mind."

Al slowly put away his phone, scowling a little at the group. He then shooed them away in the same manner as before.

As the sun was setting, the group looked southwards towards the next leg of their journey, excited and confused by the prospect of seeing the spatial pokémon.

"What a day…" Niko said, stretching his arms.

"Yeah, you got that right…" Fay said as he began walking south, the group jogging to catch up to him.

"I wonder if we'll see that thing—palkia, I mean—again," Brittany wondered.

"I'm sure we will," Niko said, patting his friend on the back. "I just hope it isn't when the world is on the brink of ending."

The rest of the group nodded, continuing their journey to Azalea Town.

* * *

 **Author's note: Yeah, i'll admit this wasn't the best episode of the season so far. There was a lot that I could do with The Ruins of Alph and, since i'm a big fan of the Sinnoh region, I felt that this would work out the best. If I get to do a season on Sinnoh, I expect that this episode will vaguely tie into it. Anyways, I hope you're enjoying it so far!**


	8. Episode 8: Counting mareep!

**Episode 8: Counting mareep!**

The day after their travels to the mysterious Sinjoh Ruins, the group got back to training. Specifically, Niko and Fay were working on training their pokémon to challenge Leader Bugsy in Azalea Town. One day, during a break on Route 32, the two did some training exercises.

Niko wanted totodile to focus on its speed, hoothoot on its new take down move (particularly on how he can reduce the recoil damage it might take), and magnemite would try and improve the effectiveness of thunder wave. Fay, on the other hand, was doing some special training. He figured that, since the next gym was bug type, cyndaquil would be his "carry," due to its obvious advantage over bug types.

Problem was twofold, however: cyndaquil disliked battling, and had difficulty breathing fire. While teddiursa was going on a run with JJ's eevee, chikorita, and growlithe, Fay focused particularly on cyndaquil.

"Alright buddy, I said we were going to start working on your fire moves. Now is that time, got it?" the fire mouse pokémon nodded half-heartedly, looking slightly anxious. "I know you're nervous. That's okay! We'll take it slow," he brought out another match and lit it. "I know you don't like fire. We're going to start by getting over that fear, alright?" He sat on his rear about three feet from cyndaquil, the lit match in his fist. Cyndaquil tried backing away, but totodile, who had noticed the fire type about to fall backwards, caught her and propped her back up. "Thanks, totodile," Fay said, smiling. The big jaw pokémon nodded happily as it got back to whatever running form it was trying to do. "Cyndaquil, just watch the fire, alright? Try to focus your attention on it."

The match went out after a while, forcing Fay to light a new one. This time, he got about a foot closer. Cyndaquil tried backing away, but Fay encouraged her not to. The fire type stood still, trying to focus on the fire. Eventually, that one went out, and Fay lit a third match and scooted across the grass another foot, putting him immediately in front of cyndaquil. The fire mouse, now losing focus and panicking, turned around and ran off.

"Dammit, and I was so close…" said Fay, blowing out the match. He stood up and surveyed the group. JJ was back with teddiursa, Niko was nearly done with his training, and Brittany was laying in the sun with wartortle and tangela. "Hey, Brittany, wanna battle? I want to practice with cyndaquil!"

The brunette looked up, removing her sunglasses. She nodded to wartortle, and the two got up and walked over.

"Sure, why not. One-on-one?" She asked.

"Two-on-two, actually. Teddiursa needs to train as well."

Brittany nodded, and ran over to the edge of a lake that the group had been sitting by before turning back to face her opponent. "Tangela, let's start with you!"

"Cyndaquil, think you can fight?" Fay asked. The fire mouse, still anxious, nodded and walked in front of its trainer. "Great! Let's start off with a smokescreen!"

"Tangela, cover your face!" Brittany commanded. "We're going to wait this out…"

And wait it out they did. The day wasn't particularly windy, and so it took some time for the smoke to disperse. Once it did, Brittany was ready with a vine whip. The green vines slapped cyndaquil several times, causing her to fall backwards. In her panic, she lit her back on fire, causing it to panic even more, since she now thought it was actually _on fire_ , not realizing that this was a completely normal thing for a cyndaquil to do.

It started running around in circles, trying to dispel the flames, but nothing was happening. Concerned, Fay chose to return cyndaquil as a means of calming it down.

"Alright then…that's fine, we forfeit that round. Teddiursa, let's go!" Fay said, summoning his little bear pokémon from over with Niko and the rest. "Let's start off with a scratch!"

"Tangela, vine whip!" Brittany commanded. Teddiursa dodged the green vines, having gotten much better at dodging since training more with Fay. It quickly approached its opponent, and slammed its small paw into the vine pokémon, launching it back a few feet. As it began to follow up with another scratch, as ordered by Fay, it decided to try a new move out: one it had apparently learned elsewhere.

It licked tangela.

Fay and Brittany both gave a look of disgust. But it seemed effective enough, since tangela seemed to be paralyzed.

"Err…" Fay said, giving his little bear a curious expression, "Use scratch, buddy…" teddiursa then rushed forward again and slashed at the tangela, effectively knocking it out.

"Alright, that teddiursa…is strong…" Brittany noted. "Wartortle, let's do this! Water gun!"

The turtle Pokémon ran forward and unleashed a powerful burst of water at an unsuspecting teddiursa, launching the little bear several feet backwards. It got back up and rushed towards its opponent, this time dodging the water gun and successfully landing a scratch attack. Wartortle then lowered its head and slammed it into teddiursa's, causing the little bear to falter backwards before getting hit with another water gun, slamming it into the ground.

"Wartortle, finish it off with bite!" Brittany cried out, commanding her pokémon to use a new move they learned. The turtle pokémon crunched down on teddiursa's paw, causing it to wail in pain and ultimately faint.

Fay walked over to pick up teddiursa. "Good job, buddy. We'll heal you up soon enough," he said, going over to their camp to grab some medicine he bought in Cherrygrove City and gave it to the little bear. It took the medicine and laid down on the grass to rest. Fay then summoned cyndaquil again to make sure she was alright. Turns out, the fire mouse indeed was. The flames on her back had disappeared and she seemed to be doing just fine. Fay patted her on the head, smiling and trying to comfort it.

"You did good out there, cyndaquil. You just got scared is all."

The group sat down for dinner and then headed immediately to bed. The following morning they would continue their journey south. As Fay had laid down his head to fall asleep, he thought he heard something walking around. Curious, he looked up and noticed a group of sheep-like pokémon walking around the grassy fields, minding their own business. Not wanting to wake up the others, he decided against pulling out his pokédex and just went back to bed.

The following morning, the sheep were gone as Fay was waking up. Not giving too much thought to the rather insignificant discovery he had made, he put it out of his mind as he helped his friends pack up their camp and continue traveling southwards. The rest of the day was rather uneventful, with the occasional training sessions here and there, and a fair amount of walking.

However, the next night, as Fay was going to bed, he noticed another group of sheep, also minding their own business. It seemed odd to him—was this a normal thing? For sheep, of all creatures, to be wandering around at night?

Well, turns out it wasn't. One of the sheep was about to take a drink of water from the river nearby when it was stung by a pufferfish-like pokémon. Fay immediately got up and rushed over to the sheep, frightening its group, all of whom had released electric shocks reflexively. Fay took the shocks—all of which were relatively weak—and got down to help the sheep. Teddiursa, who had also been awake, ran over and slashed the pufferfish pokémon back into the water. It then gave the other sheep a glare before turning to its trainer and the injured sheep.

"Hey, teddiursa, could you go and grab a purple bottle from my backpack?" Fay asked, looking down at the sheep. It had a purple bruise near its mouth, indicating that it was poisoned there. Teddiursa immediately rushed back to give Fay the bottle with a small rag to go along with it. Fay sprayed some antidote from the bottle onto the rag and pressed it against the bruise lightly. The sheep yelped a little before calming down. "There ya go…it'll hurt for a little bit but you'll be fine. That thing seemed to have poisoned you," Fay then pulled out his pokédex to know what exactly he was helping:

" _Mareep, the wool pokémon. Electric type. It stores lots of air in its soft fur, allowing it to stay cool in summer and warm in winter_."

"Wow, well you sound like a cool pokémon. Anyways, I hope you feel better. I have to get back to bed, see ya!" Fay said as he stood up and walked back to the camp with teddiursa. The Mareep walked back to its group, and they too went off to bed.

The following morning, Fay then noticed the group was still there. Curious, he walked over to find the mareep that he had treated the previous night. It had also just woken up and looked over at the black-haired pokémon trainer approaching it.

"Good morning, are you feeling any better?" asked Fay.

"Maaaar! Maaar-eeep!" mareep said happily.

"Well, that's great to hear. It was great meeting you. I've gotta get back to my friends. We're going to continue traveling."

As Fay finished his sentence, Niko had walked over to see what was up. Fay turned to him and explained everything that had occurred the previous night, what with him finding the injured mareep and healing it up.

"Ah, well that was very nice of you, Fay! I'm sure this mareep was very lucky to have you nearby. I'm Niko, by the way!" the brown-haired trainer said cheerfully, greeting the little sheep.

The two began to walk back when they noticed this particular mareep was following them back to the camp. Fay turned around, curious. "What's up, mareep?" the wool pokémon just stood there, giving no particular reaction. Fay and Niko continued but, a few paces later, they noticed mareep was still following it.

"I think it wants to join you, Fay," Niko mentioned.

"Maybe. Is that true, mareep?" Fay asked. The wool pokémon nodded.

"Mareep might be doing this to repay you for saving its life?" Niko pointed out, curious as to the motivations.

"Well, that's certainly possible. Well, mareep, if you want to join my team, how would you like to battle one of my pokémon then?" Fay summoned cyndaquil. Mareep lowered its head, as if it were ready for battle. It then unleashed a thundershock attack towards cyndaquil, who skillfully evaded the attack and belted out a smokescreen before following up with a powerful tackle to the side. However, due to the stored up electricity in mareep's wool, cyndaquil fell back, damaged by the electric shock the wool provided.

Cyndaquil then rushed in again, this time doing actual damage to mareep, who tumbled onto the ground. Seeing this as his chance, Fay opened up a pokéball and tossed it as his opponent. The electric type went into the ball as it fell to the ground. After a couple wiggles, the ball clicked, indicating that the capture was successful.

Fay walked over, picked up the ball, and summoned mareep from it. "Welcome to the team, mareep! This is your new teammate, cyndaquil!" The fire mouse and the wool pokémon seemed to hit it off immediately, despite being opponents nearly a minute previous. As he was walking back to show mareep off to Brittany and JJ, he turned around and noticed the wool pokémon was gone. "Huh…?"

Mareep had gone back to its group, trying to communicate that it was leaving. The other mareep, showing a mixture of sadness and happiness over their friend's departure, rubbed their wools against Fay's mareep, almost like they were hugging. Mareep then ran back to its new trainer, smiling and ready to start a new journey.

Brittany and JJ immediately adored mareep, as did all of their pokémon. Growlithe especially seemed to take a liking, for whatever reason. Minutes later they finished packing up and continued their journey towards Azalea Town by way of the Union Cave, this time with a new addition to their team and, at least for Fay, new optimism for what the future held for his pokémon.


	9. Episode 9: The firebreathing master!

**Episode 9: The firebreathing master!**

After healing and capturing a mareep, Fay continued his training for the Azalea gym alongside Niko and his team of pokémon. Primarily, he spent time trying to get cyndaquil to use ember. For a fire type, this was far more difficult than one might expect it to be. Mareep and teddiursa, on the other hand, were much easier. Fay had them work on dodging and on some of their separate moves. Mareep showed early on the ability to use thunder wave pretty effectively, and so Fay and Niko partnered up their electric pokémon, since magnemite was having some difficulty with it.

Niko, meanwhile, was feeling confident with his team, oddly enough. Totodile seemed to be on the verge of learning water gun, and was significantly faster over the week following the Violet City gym battle. Hoothoot was getting better at its take down, albeit still taking damage from recoil as expected. Lastly, magnemite was working on thunder wave.

Brittany and JJ would occasionally pop in and help with training, usually through battling or other methods. For example, wartortle demonstrated its water gun to totodile a few times to get the big jaw pokémon started, and growlithe would occasionally try and help cyndaquil with learning ember, or at least help her get over her fear of fire.

After about a week of travelling south, the group finally reached Union Cave, which conveniently had a pokémon center near the entrance. Before venturing into the cave, the group went inside to heal up their pokémon and grab a quick meal.

"So JJ, what does your pamphlet say about Union Cave?" Niko asked in between bites of a sandwich.

"Eh, not much actually. It says that the cave leads to the ocean, and that it is somehow connected to The Ruins of Alph, but otherwise not much. Oh, actually," the curly blonde said as he found something interesting, "You might like this, Fay. This is one of the places in Johto that firebreathers go to train."

"Firebreathers…?" replied Fay, his interest piqued.

"Yeah, I guess they just specialize in fire type pokémon. Maybe they can help you train cyndaquil!"

"Yeah, let's go and see what they're all about then!" Fay was excited now, as he rushed through the rest of his lunch and was ready to go within minutes.

The Union Cave was not as dark as most of the other caves have been. It seemed to be more like a training ground than anything, much less an actual cave. The group walked through the entrance and into a rather large cavern and noticed a tall, portly man standing next to his vulpix, both breathing fire. Fay immediately recognized the man as one of the firebreathers that JJ had mentioned. He decided to approach the man.

"Hello, sir," Fay said politely, drawing the firebreather's attention, "are you a firebreather?"

"Oh, why 'es I am. Ray's tha name. This 'ere is me vulpix. 'Ow 'bout you?"

"Fay, sir. Pleasure," he shook Ray's hand. "Anyways, I was hoping you could help me. My cyndaquil…she has difficulty breathing fire. Doesn't help that she is also afraid of it, too."

"Err…" Ray said, "If she 'fraid a fire, then maybe she can't be train'd."

Fay stood there in shock. "Well, thank you for the honesty. Have a good day, sir," Fay walked back to his group, head drooping a little.

"Wai' a momen'!" Ray said, wobbling over to Fay. "Lemme try tho."

"Are you sure?"

"'Course I am!" Ray chuckled out loud. "Now, let's see tha little thing."

Fay summoned his cyndaquil, who looked up at Ray and vulpix and ran behind her trainer's legs in fear. "Don't worry, cyndaquil. These are good people, I promise."

Cyndaquil walked around Fay's legs, still unsure, but slightly more confident.

"Now thar, cyndaquil, my name is Ray, and this is vulpix. I heard ya havin' some trouble with fire, correct?" Cyndaquil nodded. "Well, my job is firebreathin'!"

Ray then pulled out a match, lit it, and as he held it up to the ceiling of the cavern blew into the flame, increasing its size significantly. It also had the side effect of scaring cyndaquil. Ray then explained that fire is a natural element, and it actually doesn't hurt fire types. To demonstrate, he blew fire onto his own vulpix, much to the shock of Fay, cyndaquil, and the rest of the group.

The two then started blowing fire left and right, dancing along as they did so. The purpose of this, from Ray's perspective, was to help cyndaquil understand that fire wasn't so dangerous, but it could actually be entertaining. The fire mouse seemed to loosen up a bit, and even started to enjoy it, due to Ray and vulpix's incredible talent with the element.

Fay then got in front of cyndaquil and went through the match exercise again. He lit the first match, and cyndaquil didn't budge from fear. She simply didn't move. Fay then let the match burn out before moving forward and lighting another one. Again, cyndaquil didn't move but did flinch, albeit only slightly. Now, he lit a third match and found himself directly in front of cyndaquil. The fire mouse did cower at first, but remembered what Ray had briefly taught her. She realized it couldn't be hurt by the flame. She looked at it for a moment, almost mesmerized by the random movement of the flame through the soft cavern air. Cyndaquil then touched the fire, and wasn't burned. She did feel it, however, and yelped slightly.

"Cyndaquil…" Fay said as he looked at his little pokémon. "I'm…so proud of you!" He then threw the match to his side and hugged the fire mouse. Cyndaquil let out a tiny squeal to indicate its happiness as well.

"Aw, would ya look at that…" Ray said, looking down at vulpix. "Nothin' like a trainer an' pokémon growin' together as people. Ya should be very proud, Fay."

"I am, I am…now," he said, standing back up. "Let's see if you can use ember, how about that?"

This is where Ray and vulpix could really help out. The firebreather explained how fire is produced inside of a fire type, using his own body as a demonstration. He pointed to mutual body parts where the fire originates and travels before it is released, and then had vulpix demonstrate with flamethrower. They repeated this demonstration a few times, so that cyndaquil could soak it in.

The fire mouse eventually tried. She imagined where the fire would come from, and felt it moving through her body. However, only a smokescreen came out.

"That's okay, cyndaquil, keep trying alright?" Fay said, rubbing cyndaquil's back.

Cyndaquil kept at it for nearly half an hour, but nothing was coming out besides smoke, and lots of it. Eventually getting frustrated, she sat on her rear and seemed to give up for the rest of the training session.

Fay stood back up and thanked Ray for the lessons. The firebreather nodded happily, and proceeded to walk back to the pokémon center with his vulpix, leaving the group to their own devices.

"Don't worry, Fay," Niko said, patting his friend on the back. "Cyndaquil is going to get this, I just know it!" Brittany and JJ agreed, both showing their support with a pat on the shoulder. Fay smiled, thanking his friends.

"Thanks, guys. We made a lot of progress today, but I don't think cyndaquil is ready to use ember yet. I mean, it only just got over its fear of fire. I can't expect too much from such a young pokémon, right?"

The group then continued walking through the cave, eventually settling down to have a meal, ultimately deciding on spending the night in the cave, with each trainer taking turns watching over the rest of them. Niko was first, and he took the opportunity to train with magnemite, totodile, and hoothoot. However, the pokémon were tired and didn't last long, falling asleep quickly enough, leaving Niko with his owl pokémon.

"Hoothoot, I think you're doing really well so far, have I told you that?" Niko said, turning to the flying type. Hoothoot turned to its trainer, its feet not moving with the rest of its body. It nodded. "I realized that when I was travelling through Kanto, I don't think I told my pokémon how much I appreciated them. Maybe I did, but it didn't feel like it, y'know? I want to get better at that.

"I also need to keep pushing myself. I don't think I ever told you or totodile this, but I got beaten in the Indigo League. And badly. It was basically a tournament where a bunch of strong trainers competed, and I lost to Fay, actually. It was hard to take in, and I felt terrible about it. Actually, I almost didn't come to Johto. And I wouldn't have met you or totodile. I'm telling you this because it's important, I've realized, for pokémon to expect as much from their trainer as the trainer expects from the pokémon. Meaning, if I hold you accountable for a battle, you need to do the same for me. I can't slip up. I don't want to. I want to do better, even if that means beating Fay. Do you follow?"

Hoothoot, who has been rather mute during the whole adventure, nodded solemnly. It fully understood.

Brittany and JJ took the next shifts, their teams both asleep. However, growlithe did stay up with JJ for a bit, and played catch a little with a ball JJ had managed to find on Route 32. It also gave growlithe a chance to practice its flame wheel, which is was constantly improving on.

During this, cyndaquil was up, unbeknownst to growlithe and JJ. She just lay there, watching the puppy pokémon essentially light itself on fire, wondering how it was able to do such a thing.

Eventually it was Fay's turn, and cyndaquil decided to sit with him for his shift. Fay watched as his pokémon, who was now very much awake, was practicing her dodging exercises. Usually, Fay had to instruct cyndaquil to do this. However, she was now doing so on its own. She then began practicing the techniques Ray taught her, although she chose not to constantly use smokescreen, primarily on Fay's suggestion, since their friends were sleeping and might accidentally inhale too much.

After a while, cyndaquil walked back over and lay down next to Fay. "Cyndaquil, you've improved a lot today, you know that right?" Cyndaquil nodded. "I'm not used to doing this kind of training, actually. My first pokémon ever was a fire type, and it had no problem using fire moves, and so I just took it for granted. I now realize that isn't always the case. Every pokémon has to learn at some point, right? And every pokémon is different, even if they're of the same species. What sets you apart from my other fire type—charizard—is this. You're much younger, but you're improving at a rate that none of my pokémon ever did. And that's incredible.

"I want to keep getting stronger, like Niko. He went through kind of a rough patch and was able to get out of it. I think…I think that all trainers go through those trying moments. Maybe this is one of them, at least for me. You're making me a better trainer, cyndaquil, and I am really grateful for that."

The following morning, the group made it out of Union Cave and found themselves roughly half an hour from Azalea Town. Having a quick breakfast, the group continued down the road to their next gym battle, with new hopes, realizations, and skills, both Niko and Fay seemed to be ready to challenge Bugsy.


	10. Episode 10: Maizie and the slowpoke well

**Episode 10: Maizie and the slowpoke well!**

After roughly a week of travel from Violet City, the site of the first Johto gym, the group finally arrived in Azalea Town, the site of the second gym. Fay and Niko, both having spent that intervening time training, seemed ready to take on the Azalea Town leader, Bugsy.

At the local pokémon center, the group sat down to rest. Even though they hadn't spent much of their day walking, it had been a long journey from Violet City nonetheless. JJ spent much of this resting time in the pokémon center reading through his pamphlet, specifically the parts on Azalea Town.

"Find anything interesting?" Fay asked.

"Well…" JJ began, still perusing, "Azalea Town does have some interesting things, actually. There is the gym, obviously. But it also is known for its slowpoke well, its charcoal industry, and…the pokéball maker."

"Pokéball maker?" Niko repeated, curious as to what this was.

"Well, it's some guy that makes pokéballs with his granddaughter, or so it seems. Looks like they use apricorns to do so…"

"That sounds really cool, actually," Brittany said, "let's check it out!"

The rest of the group agreed, proceeding to get up and walk to this Kurt's house. They found it on a hill in the southwest of town. As they approached the top of the hill, they noticed an old man working at some sort of manual machine, with a younger woman aiding him by providing him with some small colored object. As the group approached, the young woman looked up and noticed them.

She was a brown-haired woman with two ponytails that dropped to her sides. She had a fair facial complexion with gray-blue eyes. She looked to be an average height and was wearing a white t-shirt with denim shorts. While the group began to approach her to introduce themselves, JJ seemed to slip into the back of the pack, slightly blushing.

"Hi there, we're travelers who are interested in the idea of pokéball making. My name is Niko, this is my friend Fay, Brittany, and…err…" they all turned to JJ, who was visibly shaking as he tried to find the right words.

"I…uh…I am…err…JJ. Pleasure to uh meet you," the curly blonde trainer said, walking up and shaking the woman's hand.

"Pleased to meet you all," she said in a soft voice, "my name is Maizie, and this is my grandfather, Kurt. We run this small pokéball making business."

"Pleasure to meet you, Maizie," Niko replied, "Say, what're you up to right now?" He said, examining the machine Kurt was currently working on.

"This is the actual pokéball maker. We've improved it a lot over the years, and so this is the latest version. It's kind of a complicated machine, but it seems to work out just fine. Could I interest you in something to drink?" She asked, leading the group inside while her grandfather finished his work.

The inside of the house was relatively modest. Kind of like Mark's home in the Sinjoh ruins, it had a small kitchen and living room, with two doors that presumably led to bedrooms. The group sat down on Maizie's couch while the young woman brought them all glasses of water.

"So…where are you all from?"

"The Kanto region, actually. The three of us are from Pallet Town, and Brittany is from Vermilion City. You?"

"Oh, I'm from here. My dad lives in Kanto. He has worked at Silph Co. in Saffron City for decades now. I live here with my grandfather and keep him company and help him out as an assistant in his business. I'm hoping to take it over one day when he retires. But Kanto…that's pretty far. What brings you to Johto?"

"Well," Fay began, only to be interrupted by JJ.

"Niko and Fay are challenging the gyms. We're actually in town so they can challenge Bugsy. And Brittany and I came along because we love to travel as well!"

"Well," Maizie responded, smiling a little, "that sounds like a lot of fun. I'm actually a little jealous of you four. I was never given the option to travel, although I would have loved to go on my own journey."

"It's never too later to start!" JJ replied, "Niko, Fay, and I all left when we were 17. How old are you now?"

"Definitely older than you three, by a few years or so, though," Maizie responded, laughing slightly. "Anyways, good luck in your gym battle. Bugsy is tough, but a fun gym leader. He and I are pretty close friends. We grew up together. He _loves_ bug types."

"Gee, wonder why…" Fay said, eliciting a strong laugh from Maizie, much to JJ's envy.

Moments later, Kurt walked in through the front door, carrying a basket full of custom pokéballs. "Done," he grunted. The pokéball maker was a man of average height and long, gray hair that fell down his back. He wore more traditional garb, much unlike his granddaughter.

"Wow! I'll go deliver those in a moment, grandpa. I was just getting to know these lovely trainers."

"Oh? What're they here for, anyways?" He asked, placing the basket at Maizie's leg.

"They just wanted to check out the business. They're travelers from Kanto, and two of them are here to challenge Bugsy!"

"Ah, that guy. Nice boy, but very obsessed with bug pokémon. You still friends with him?" Maizie nodded. "Ah, I'm glad you two got through whatever issues you had."

"What happened with you and Bugsy?" JJ, very much invested in this, asked.

"We, err…" Maizie started, only to be interrupted by Kurt.

"They dated for some time."

An awkward silence arose, leading Maizie to grab her basket and exit the house. JJ, seeing a "chance" to get closer to the young brunette, also got up and followed her, requesting to help her out. Maizie agreed, and the two walked off. While Kurt was washing up, the other three looked at each other with an odd look.

"So…does JJ have the hots for Maizie, or what?" Niko whispered.

"I was thinking the same thing," Fay responded, equally quiet.

"Has he ever expressed interest in a girl before?" Brittany added. Niko and Fay both shook their heads.

"Not really. He was more interested in hanging out with us then girls. This is definitely a first for all of us," Niko replied. Kurt then joined them on the couch.

"So…you plan on challenging gyms, eh? You from Johto?"

"Kanto, actually. We participated in the Indigo League last spring," Fay answered.

"I see…I once tried my hand at battling. I was in the Silver Conference as a kid, much younger than you three. However, my slowking and I didn't make it very far, and I decided that I was more cut out for engineering and business instead. I went to school to study trainer engineering, and learned the mechanics of pokéballs. It changed my life, and I never look back with regret.

"Anyways! You want to see how pokéballs are made, right? Let me go show you!" Kurt said with vigor as he got off the couch and walked the three trainers back outside. As they did so, Niko noticed an odd looking pokéball sitting in a glass case. It was gold on the top and silver on the bottom, with the inscription "GS" on the gold plating.

"Kurt…what's this?" Niko asked.

"Ah, that old thing. It's a special, one of a kind pokéball. Not sure where it originated, but years ago a trainer with a pikachu brought it to me. I just keep it on display, since it's so beautifully made."

* * *

JJ and Maizie walked down the hill to their first stop. During their delivery run, they got to know each other a little better, and JJ slowly began to feel more comfortable talking to his sudden crush.

"So, do you want to make pokéballs forever?" JJ asked, "And, I guess, have you uh always wanted to?"

Maizie nodded. "To answer both of your questions: yes. I grew up with my grandfather doing this business. It's really all I know, actually. I never went to school past primary, and just help grandpa full time," she turned to JJ, "What about you?"

"Oh, uh me?" JJ answered, "Well, I originally wanted to challenge gyms with my friends, Niko and Fay. But I challenged Brock in the Pewter Gym and lost—badly. I kind of gave up that day. It was rough, losing my very first competitive battle, but I just didn't want to keep putting my pokémon through that, you know?" Maizie nodded, seeming to empathize. "Before all of this, I just kind of went through the motions, doing okay in school until I went on my journey with Niko and Fay. That's definitely changed me. I've seen so much of the world already and I want to keep exploring."

"Do you know what your dream is?"

JJ had to think about this for a moment. He hadn't actually given this much thought…at all. "Well, I don't really know. I know that sounds kinda crappy, not having any goal in mind."

"How about I help you, then?" Maizie said as they reached their first house. She knocked on the door, delivered the pack of pokéballs, and continued with JJ onto their next destination. "So…what makes you happy? For me, it's being with my grandfather and running a business that people love as well. We make trainers happy, we help them on their journeys. What do you like to do?"

"Well, I like to help raise pokémon. I think I'm alright at it. When we were in Kanto, I was given a pokémon egg that hatched into a growlithe. And I've been the only person it's ever known, and it's gotten so much stronger. I'm now raising a chikorita that I got from an egg, and I absolutely love it."

"Have you thought about pokémon breeding, then?" JJ coughed a little, looking over at Maizie with a surprised expression.

"No…uh no I have not."

"Maybe you'd like that, then. A pokémon breeder raises pokémon. You've already taken an interest in that, so why not go for it?" They reached the second house, and Maizie repeated the process. The walked in silence for the next couple of deliveries before finishing. The sun began to set, and as they were walking through the town, Maizie got an idea. "Hey, wanna see something?" JJ nodded, and the brunette grabbed his hand and dragged him the direction they had come from.

Moments later they ended up at a…well. "What's this place?"

"It's the slowpoke well. Azalea Town. Slowpoke are highly regarded in this town, even revered. According to legend, slowpoke's yawn can cause the rain. And so this well is a habitat that they have lived in for centuries, and it is incredibly important to everyone in this town. It's where I got my first pokémon, a slowpoke, naturally. And it's where grandpa got his, one that eventually evolved all the way to slowking."

"This is pretty cool, actually," JJ said, looking down. As he did so, he slipped and fell down the well, eventually grabbing one of the rungs on the ladder.

"JJ! Are you alright?" Maizie yelled out. JJ looked up, gave a thumbs up, and climbed up the ladder. As he did so, one of the rungs broke, and he fell down to the bottom of the well on his back. "Oh no!" The brunette immediately climbed down the well to retrieve her newfound friend. At the bottom, she helped him stand up, albeit with some difficulty.

"My back definitely hurts, but otherwise I feel—ow!" JJ yelled, holding onto his back as Maizie led him to the ladder. Slowly, she helped him get back up, letting him go first in case he falters, she can help steady him. The two made it back to the top of the well and sat down against it, watching the sun set behind the forest on the other edge of town. "Well, thanks for the help. I appreciated it."

"No problem. And thanks for joining me on my delivery run. Usually I go by myself. Bugsy used to go with me, but he's too busy with his gym and his other hobbies nowadays."

"If it's okay to ask, did everything go okay with you two, or no?"

Maizie didn't seem too bothered by the question. "We just went our separate ways, as most failed relationships do. We grew further apart, wanted different things. Y'know, the typical, cliché things."

JJ laughed as he tried to straighten his back against the well, only to find it far more difficult than he imagined. Maizie held his back as he attempted this. For a moment, their faces were unusually close to each other. JJ, never being this close to anyone of the opposite sex, aside from his mother, began to feel tense. They then got much closer, the sun finally disappearing behind the trees.

* * *

"And that's how you make a pokéball!" Kurt said, delighted that his demonstration went without any problems. "So, there are around seven different pokéballs that I make. Here, I made a fast ball," he said, throwing it to Niko. "And another, the lure ball," he threw to Fay. "And lastly, the friend ball," Kurt finally said, throwing to Brittany. "There's also the level, moon, love, and heavy balls. Each is used for a particular type of pokéball.

"The fast ball is used for pokémon who are particularly speedy. The lure ball is for pokémon you catch underwater. And the friend ball is for strengthening the bond between you and your newly caught pokémon. Would you other friend like one?" Fay, Niko, and Brittany all nodded. Kurt picked up another friend ball and tossed it to Fay. "There, I'm sure he'll enjoy it."

As they were talking, they noticed JJ and Maizie walking up the hill, with the former's arm around the latter.

"JJ!" Brittany shouted out with concern, "Are you alright?"

"Heh, yeah I'm okay. Fell down a well, though," JJ responded. "Maizie helped me get back out."

"Aw, that's sweet of her. Thanks, Maizie," Brittany said, nodding to the fellow brunette and winking to JJ, who responded with a light blush and looked away.

They took JJ back into the house where Kurt laid him down on the couch while Maizie prepared an ice pack. She pressed it against JJ's back, sitting at his side. The group, plus Maizie and Kurt, exchanged stories for the next several minutes while Kurt cooked up some food. They all ate at the house and continued talking well into the night before realizing how late it had gotten.

The group got up to leave, JJ with them, before Kurt and Maizie stopped them.

"Thank you for visiting kids," Kurt began, "Please do again sometime."

"We will," Fay remarked. "Also, we'll keep an eye on JJ here."

"Please do," Maizie replied. "He just needs to keep reapplying ice every now and then. It'll still hurt for a while, keep that in mind."

"Thanks, Maizie," JJ began, "Also, do you both want to come and watch Fay and Niko's gym battle tomorrow?"

It had immediately occurred to JJ how awkward this had sounded. It was especially surprising given JJ's obvious feelings for this woman. However, Maizie's response seemed equally unexpected.

"Sure! I'd love to check it out! JJ told me all about your battles. It got me pretty fired up!"

JJ's three friends blinked a few times before responding cordially. "Sure, we'd love to have an audience!" Niko said excitedly. The group then left the house and ventured off to the pokémon center. At this point, things got awkward, particularly for JJ. "So…JJ…" Niko said, "You like Maizie, don't you?"

"I-I-I!" JJ stammered, "…yeah, guess I do."

"It's so obvious dude," Fay added.

"Is it really?" JJ asked, a little panicked. His friends all nodded vigorously. "Well, dammit, yeah I do. We had such a great time. And…I think I know what I want to do…what my goal is going to be."

"What's that, JJ?" Niko asked, intrigued.

"I'm going to be a pokémon breeder."


	11. Episode 11: The mantis and the mouse

**Episode 11: The mantis and the mouse**

The day had come for Niko and Fay's second Johto gym battle, this time against Bugsy of Azalea Town. Previously, they had arrived in town and immediately went to check out the pokéball maker, Kurt, and his granddaughter, Maizie. During this visit, JJ had discovered what his goal wanted to be with the help of Maizie—to be a pokémon breeder. Now, the attention turned to his friends, who were arriving at the gym early that morning to get the battle out of the way.

Fay opened the door, revealing a large forest with an ordinary-sized battlefield in the center. As they walked in, they heard a young man running around, presumably screaming at something or the other. The man eventually ran out of a nearby bush, bug net in both hands, rushing towards a butterfree. The group just watched this for a moment or two before Maizie walked up and stopped him, allowing the butterfree to get away.

"Bugsy…" she said softly, halting the gym leader.

"Oh, Maizie…" Bugsy said in an equally soft tone. "What, er, are you doing here?"

"You have some challengers. I just happened to befriend them yesterday."

"Befriending is an understatement, in some cases…" Niko sniggered, resulting in an elbow to his side from JJ. Bugsy then turned to Niko and Fay.

"Well, hello there you boys. My name is Bugsy, and I'm the leader here. I specialize in bug types, and I pride myself in being an expert on the type. Heh…do you both want to challenge me?" the two trainers nodded. "Excellent, it'll be a three-on-three battle. Who wants to go first?"

Niko stepped forward. "I will," he said. Bugsy smirked, and walked over to his end of the battlefield, net still in hand.

"Kakuna, I choose you!" Bugsy shouted out, revealing the cocoon pokémon.

"Totodile, you're up!" Niko commanded, summoning his big jaw pokémon. "Let's start off with a water gun!"

"Poison sting!" Kakuna retaliated with a stream of poison needles. They intercepted with the burst of water, resulting in a stalemate. Totodile then rushed forward to get closer to kakuna, jumping in to use bite. However, kakuna used harden with the expectation that it would break totodile's teeth.

Neither Bugsy nor kakuna had met totodile, clearly.

The big jaw pokémon crunched down on the bug type, eventually lifting it high into the air and swinging it to the side of the field. Kakuna tumbled and rolled in the dirt, taking a water gun to the face from totodile.

"Kakuna! Get up and use poison sting, followed by string shot!" Bugsy yelled out. The cocoon pokémon jumped upright, unleashing a flurry of poison needles at totodile, who responded with water gun. However, the big jaw pokémon got wrapped up in the string shot, not realizing how fast this particular kakuna could be.

"Totodile, you can do this! Bite through the string!" Niko yelled out.

"That'll be pretty hard, even for a pokémon with a mouth as strong as totodile's. Kakuna, poison sting!" Bugsy shouted. As the poison attack aimed for totodile, the latter leapt forward and, in an odd stroke of genius (if one could call it that), used the poison sting to break through the string. However, it came at a cost: totodile was poisoned.

As the water type cringed in pain, Niko commanded it to use water gun once more. It was met with another poison sting, but Niko and totodile followed up with bite, using the same strategy as they originally had, launching kakuna into the air and ultimately subduing it.

"Kakuna is unable to battle, totodile wins!" declared Kurt, who had agreed to referee the match.

"Kakuna, return…metapod, you're up!"

"Totodile, return…" Niko said, substituting his water type. "You did pretty great, buddy, but you need to rest. Hoothoot, you're up!"

As Niko summoned his owl pokémon, Bugsy commanded metapod to use harden. Niko and hoothoot responded with a peck that seemed to do some damage. As hoothoot flew back up into the air and to where it originally started, Niko had an idea.

"Hoothoot, grab metapod with your talons and carry it into the air!"

" _What?_ " Bugsy shouted out, confused. The flying type picked up the bug type, carrying it high into the air before attempting to drop it. Unfortunately, Bugsy realized this quick enough to command a string shot. Metapod grabbed onto hoothoot's leg and proceeded to bring the two pokémon down to the ground. All the while, metapod was using harden as a buffer for the inevitable impact.

"Hoothoot, find all of the strength that you can and use take down!" Niko said. Hoothoot then began to circle in the air several times before rushing into the ground. As it got a foot off of the ground it veered back upwards slightly in order to allow metapod to crash first. This seemed to work, but the owl pokémon also took a heavy amount of damage as well.

"Metapod is unable to battle, hoothoot wins! Bugsy will now send out his final pokémon!"

"Wow…Niko's pretty good!" Maizie commented.

"Yeah, he's gotten a lot better, too," Fay replied. "But I can imagine Bugsy is no pushover either, right?" Maizie nodded, a little solemnly.

"Niko, you probably think my other two pokémon are pushovers. They're not—I can tell you that. But they do act as a warm-up for my third and final pokémon. Scyther, I choose you!" Bugsy then released the mantis pokémon that Niko was so familiar with.

"Hoothoot, don't underestimate scyther. It's stronger than it looks, which says something."

"Scyther, quick attack!"

The speed of the mantis pokémon was astonishing. Hoothoot didn't know what hit it until it was too late. It was easily launched backwards into a tree trunk, albeit not defeated. It got back up and flew towards scyther, preparing to use take down again. As it did so, scyther used leer, which intimidated the owl pokémon and caused it to lose focus. Scyther then slashed its scythe at hoothoot while taking the damage from the take down.

"Hoothoot is unable to battle, scyther wins!" Kurt declared.

"Totodile, let's go!" Niko commanded, releasing his still exhausted water type. "Water gun, now!"

"Scyther, quick attack into fury cutter!" Bugsy shouted. The mantis pokémon agilely evaded the water gun and slashed as totodile several times before launching it into the same tree trunk that hoothoot had previously inhabited.

"Totodile is unable to battle, scyther wins! Niko will now send out his last pokémon!"

"Magnemite, let's go!" Niko said, "We're used to fighting scythers, we got this, right?" magnemite nodded. "Use thunderwave!"

The magnet pokémon charged up electricity for a moment before unleashing it in all directions. Scyther, regardless of how fast it was, found it difficult to avoid this move, and ultimately became paralyzed as a result. Magnemite then rushed forward with a series of thundershocks to subdue the scyther, each doing significant damage to the powerful bug type.

Eventually scyther was able to free itself from the paralyzing effects of thunderwave, and rushed forward to swipe at magnemite with fury cutter. The attack landed, and the mantis pokémon repeated the move, allowing it to get more powerful with each successive strike.

"Magnemite! You have to be careful!" Niko commanded. "Use thunderwave again!"

"Not so fast, Niko! Bugsy, quick attack!"

Scyther slammed into magnemite with the full weight of its body, launching magnemite backwards. However, the electric type was able to collect itself in midair, hovering back to the battlefield and its opponent.

"Magnemite, we can do this!" Niko yelled out. "Use thundershock!"

"Fury cutter, scyther!" Bugsy shouted out. The mantis pokémon evaded the sparks of electricity and continued to fly towards its opponent. However, magnemite saw it coming and used thunderwave, successful again, and stunned the bug type, causing it to crash into the ground, unable to move.

"Finish it off with thundershock!" Niko yelled out as magnemite summoned all of its energy and unleashed it upon the mantis pokémon.

"Scyther is unable to battle, magnemite wins! The victory goes to Niko from Pallet Town!"

"Yes magnemite! We did it again!" Niko cheered, embracing his magnet pokémon, only to receive a celebratory electric shock.

Bugsy walked away to heal his pokémon before facing Fay, who had already made it to the field, first pokéball in hand. He nodded to the gym leader when he returned, indicating that he was ready.

"Teddiursa, you're up!" Fay commanded.

"Metapod, let's go! Use harden!"

"Teddiursa, lick!" This was the first time lick had been used in an official battle, and Fay was curious to see how it would do against a gym leader's pokémon. It seemed successful enough—it prevented metapod from moving at all. However, its defenses were still up, and no matter how many times Fay commanded scratch, it didn't seem to do much good.

Fay stood there and scratched his chin for a moment. Looking up, he returned teddiursa and summoned his new mareep instead.

"Mareep, this pokémon is more of a physical fighter, alright? Let's see if we can win without having to touch it. Use thundershock!"

The wool pokémon cried out as it charged up electricity in its wool and released it in every direction, primarily at metapod, who took the attack, but didn't seem phased. Fay grit his teeth, asking mareep to use thundershock repeatedly. Eventually, metapod seemed to be worn down enough for Fay to command it to use tackle. At this, metapod finally fell backwards, effectively defeated.

"Metapod is unable to battle, mareep wins! Bugsy will send out his second pokémon!" Kurt declared.

"Kakuna, let's go! Poison sting!"

"Counter with thundershock, mareep!" Fay yelled out as the two attack collided in the middle of the battlefield. "Now follow up with thunderwave!"

Like magnemite previously, mareep once again charged up electricity in its wool, ultimately unleashing it in all directions. Kakuna, who hardly moved unless forced to, took the attack and found itself paralyzed.

"Now, mareep! Use thundershock repeatedly again!" Fay shouted. The wool pokémon then repeated the same technique against kakuna that it had previously against metapod. Like before, it worked. Kakuna was easily defeated.

"Kakuna is unable to battle, mareep wins! Bugsy will send out his final pokémon!" Kurt declared.

"Well, looks like you and Niko use similar techniques. Alright scyther, you're up!"

"Mareep, be careful…scyther is pretty strong…" Fay said with caution. "Use thunderwave!"

"Quick attack!" Bugsy responded. Scyther rushed and slashed as mareep before it even considered charging electricity. The wool pokémon slammed into the dirt, creating a cloud of dust. Bugsy had hoped this would happen—the dirt would weaken the effects of electric moves.

Mareep was able to get off a thundershock as scyther used agility repeatedly to speed itself up. It then took the thundershock and prepared for a series of fury cutters, knocking mareep all across the battlefield, ultimately sending it hurdling into the air and crashing back onto the ground, releasing dirt high into the air.

"Mareep is unable to battle, scyther wins! Fay will send out his next pokémon!"

"Teddiursa, let's go!" Fay said, confident that the little bear could help him win this. "Use scratch!"

"Scyther, quick attack!" Bugsy demanded.

"Teddiursa, grab onto the scythe…now!" Fay yelled out. The little bear saw the mantis pokémon fast approaching it, but when scyther was about to land its scythe, teddiursa leapt into the air, grabbed onto the scythe with one paw, reducing the damage as scyther slammed into its opponent.

Scyther then proceeded to use a series of fury cutters once more, ultimately subduing the little bear, who in the flurry of scythes attacking it, managed to land a scratch of two.

"Teddiursa is unable to battle, scyther wins! Fay will now send out his final pokémon!" Kurt declared. Fay pulled out cyndaquil's pokéball. _This is all I have left…I hope it's enough…_

"Cyndaquil, I choose you!" Fay commanded, summoning his fire type. "Smokescreen!"

"Scyther, agility!" Bugsy yelled out, ordering his mantis pokémon to rush forward, regardless of the wall of smoke being emitted in front of it. Cyndaquil kept up the release of smoke onto the battlefield, eventually covering the entire field. Unfortunately, scyther's increased speed was able to dissipate the smoke quickly enough.

The mantis pokémon rushed forward to use fury cutter. Bugsy had commanded it to repeatedly use the attack and, therefore, increase its power.

"Cyndaquil, remember our training! Dodge each fury cutter!" Fay cried out, now a little nervous. He knew he had to eventually attack scyther, but its speed and strength were increasing immensely. At this rate, cyndaquil would likely get exhausted first.

The fire mouse turned and ran away, dodging each scythe that slammed into the ground. The mantis pokémon was obviously faster in terms of raw speed, but cyndaquil had spent more time practicing how to dodge than any of Fay's other pokémon. Somehow, she knew it was her only strength, at least for now.

Eventually scyther managed to hit cyndaquil, sending the fire type slamming into the side of the stands nearby. The fire mouse slowly fell to the ground. She looked up at the mantis pokémon and, in her dizzy state, began to see doubles. She also had difficulty hearing, but was able to parse out Fay's voice.

"Cyndaquil, you have to get up! If you back down, we all lose!"

Cyndaquil looked at Fay, and then to Bugsy, and finally to scyther, who was awaiting her return to the battlefield. She knew if she gave up, she would be giving up for mareep and teddiursa, who had likely fought pretty well (having not seen the previous rounds). Cyndaquil stood back up, waddling dizzily back to scyther.

"Your cyndaquil looks ready to continue, Fay," Bugsy noted. "It's got guts, that's for sure. Scyther! Let's finish this with fury cutter!"

Scyther rushed forward at its opponent, scythe ready to strike. As it did so, cyndaquil saw her whole journey flash before her eyes. Meeting Fay, the battle in Violet City, the match exercise, landing on her back and lighting its back on fire, Ray and vulpix, finally getting over her fear of fire all came to mind immediately.

"Cynnnnn….daaa…QUILLLLLL!" the fire mouse shouted out, her back lighting on fire and releasing a flurry of rather large embers at scyther's face.

Fay's jaw dropped to the floor after watching this. Suddenly, he was just as fired up as cyndaquil was.

"Cyndaquil! You did it! You finally used a fire move!"

"Yes! She did it!" Brittany yelled out, clapping for cyndaquil. Niko, JJ, and Maizie all joined in, cheering on the fire mouse as she regained her composure.

"Cyndaquil, use ember!" Fay shouted out. Bugsy tried to retaliate with a fury cutter, but scyther took another series of embers to the face, causing it to falter backwards. "Now, finish it off with tackle!" the fire mouse leapt into the air, slamming into scyther's torso with the full weight of her body behind the tackle. Both pokémon fell onto the ground, but only cyndaquil found the energy to get back up.

"Scyther is unable to battle, cyndaquil wins! The victory goes to Fay from Pallet Town!" Kurt declared excitedly.

Fay got down on his knees and held out his hands as cyndaquil ran over to him. The two embraced. "I'm so proud of you…cyndaquil, you finally did it! You overcame your fear of fire!" he looked at his starter pokémon. "How did it feel?"

Cyndaquil nodded, indicating that it might not have been as bad as she might have originally thought. Fay smiled, excited about the progression of his pokémon.

Bugsy walked up to Fay as the latter stood up. Niko, JJ, Brittany, and Maizie all joined the two on Fay's end of the battlefield.

"Fay, Niko, both of you performed admirably in this gym battle. As proof that you beat me, I award the hive badge to each of you. Congrats!" The purple-haired trainer smiled warmly, looking over at Maizie as he did so. The brunette smiled back, although not as warmly.

The group exited the gym, electing to go for an early lunch. Kurt and Maizie suggested that the group save money and head to their house for a meal.

As they sat down—JJ next to Maizie—they discussed the next leg of their journey. JJ pulled out his map and pamphlet again to examine where they should go next.

"Well, Goldenrod is where the next gym would be, actually…" he said, "It's not terribly far, once we get out of the Ilex Forest, it'll be a few days."

"And how long does it take to get through the forest?" Niko wondered. This is where Kurt stepped in.

"Be careful in there…the Ilex Forest hasn't been the same for a long time. It's said that the legendary pokémon celebi resides there. All I'm saying is that you should take caution."

"We'll keep that in mind, thanks Kurt," Niko responded, finishing his soup. Two badges down, six to go, Fay and Niko seemed confident in their training thus far in the Johto Region. However, it wasn't going to get easier for either of them, as they would soon find out.


	12. Episode 12: The time traveler!

**Episode 12: The time traveler!**

After defeating gym leader Bugsy, the group was ready to head off to their next destination, Goldenrod City, where the third Johto gym battle would take place. However, to get there the group would have to travel through the Ilex Forest, which Kurt the pokéball maker has warned is dangerous. The trainers took the advice while knowing fully well that they would go regardless.

Before they left Azalea Town, they had to say their goodbyes to Kurt and Maizie, two friends that they met on their first day in town. This farewell was particularly difficult on JJ, who had taken a liking to Maizie, and was unsure of when he would see her again.

Niko, Fay, and Brittany went to say good-bye to Kurt while JJ and Maizie said their goodbyes. He promised that he would call her when they arrived in Goldenrod City. Not owning a phone of his own, JJ said he would use the pokémon center's phone. The two hugged—at least, that's all the rest of the group saw—and finally parted ways.

"You alright, JJ?" Niko asked, grabbing his friend's shoulder. JJ nodded, looking a little sullen but otherwise fine.

It was around mid-afternoon when the group began their trek into the Ilex Forest. It was a densely-packed forest, so dense that light barely made it through, giving the impression that it was constantly dusk, regardless of the actual position of the sun. This is because the trees are so close together, although there has luckily been a path created by previous travelers.

Fay summoned cyndaquil, his starter pokémon in the Johto Region, to help light up the way through the forest. Cyndaquil had previously had difficulty with fire, but during the Azalea gym battle it overcame this fear and was finally able to learn a fire move—ember, much to Fay's excitement. The two led the pack as they trudged through Ilex Forest.

"Isn't there a legendary pokémon that lives in this forest?" asked Brittany.

"Yeah, celebi apparently," JJ responded, growlithe at his side. "There's some shrine in this forest that celebi occasionally visits. Wonder if we might get to see it.

In fact, they did find it, not even an hour into their journey. It was a small, wooden shrine that looked akin to a bird house. JJ leaned forward to examine it, but found nothing particularly interesting with it.

"I guess celebi is a modest pokémon…" he added.

"Or its supporters are," Fay replied, also taking a look. He opened one of the double doors in the center of the little house-like structure, only to find…nothing. Nothing at all.

"What the…?" Fay asked, figuring that there would at least be something in a shrine for a legendary pokémon.

Suddenly, they heard someone approaching. Turning around, the group looked and saw a heavyset man in black pants and shirt with a red vest. He also bore sunglasses atop his rapidly balding head. Next to him was a tyranitar, similar to the one Fay had faced in the Indigo League.

"You kids looking for something…?" he asked, smirking as he threw up a gold and silver pokéball in his right hand.

"No…no not really, sir," JJ said, scared to death of this supposed thief. "Just checking out the shrine for celebi."

"Wait a minute…!" Fay said out loud, "That's from Kurt! You stole that pokéball from Kurt!"

The man snickered. "Heh, yeah maybe I did. What's it to ya? He fell pretty quickly, slowkings are no match for my tyranitar here. And that granddaughter of his…mhmm, good looking, she is. Wish I could have seen more of that."

JJ's nostrils flared up at the mention of Maizie by this clearly disrespectful man. "Don't you dare talk about Maizie like that! You've stolen from her grandfather, and clearly don't respect women!"

"Humph, I don't know you who are, kid, but you have no idea who the hell I am!" the thief said, now a little angry. "You don't even know why I want this pokéball!"

"Well…why do you?" Niko piped in, more confused than frightened at the conversation.

"To catch celebi, obviously! This pokéball ensures the capture of it. There is only one in existence—back in Azalea Town, and now in my hands."

"But, sir…" Fay responded, now a little more politely, albeit still upset. "Celebi isn't here."

"I know that, idiot! But it will come back, that's for sure! And the name's Rex, not 'sir.'"

As he said that, the shrine began to light up. The doors slammed wide open, nearly snapping them off of their hinges, and out came a small green pokémon. It flew around in circles high above the five trainers before stopping and looking down at them all.

"It's…celebi…" JJ muttered.

Rex then enlarged the gold and silver pokéball and threw it up at the time travel pokémon. Celebi quickly dodged it, only to swoop back down and grab onto JJ and Brittany and, as tyranitar rushed forward to attack, disappeared with the two.

"Brittany! JJ!" Niko yelled out, frightened that two of his friends were suddenly gone. "Where'd they go!?"

"No idea…" Fay said, "But we have another problem on our hands, Niko…" Fay said as the tyranitar and Rex both stared them down, clearly unhappy.

"What…did…you...DO!?" Rex screamed out.

"N-nothing!" Niko stammered, "We have no idea why they're gone, otherwise we'd tell you!"

"Niko…let's just run…" Fay said, returning cyndaquil and booking it through the forest behind him and his friend. Niko followed suit, scared for his life now.

* * *

JJ and Brittany found themselves back in Azalea Town only seconds later. The celebi looked at them, smiling and flying around in short circles.

"We're back in Azalea Town…why…?" Brittany wondered, looking at the time travel pokémon. JJ meanwhile pulled out his pokédex to gather information on the mythical creature:

" _Celebi, the time travel pokémon. Grass and Psychic type. Revered as a guardian of the forest, Celebi appears whenever beautiful forests exist_."

"So…celebi, what do you want with us?" JJ asked. Celebi then flew in circles around JJ and Brittany, as if trying to communicate something to them. The two trainers looked around them, realizing that they were at the bottom of a rather familiar hill.

"We're near Kurt's house!" Brittany exclaimed. "But…wait…why are we—oh!" She said, excitedly pointing a finger in the air. "You want us to get the pokéball before Rex does!" Celebi nodded. "Of course! There must have been a time between when we left and Rex arrived and stole the pokéball. Do you want us to warn them of it?" Celebi nodded.

Then JJ shoved Brittany down onto the ground, behind a bush, and pointed at the hill. They then saw themselves walking down the hill with Niko and Fay after departing from Kurt's house. As they saw themselves walk out of site, they ran "back" up the hill and towards the house again.

Knocking on it, Kurt immediately answered. "Oh, Brittany, JJ! What…err…can I do for you?"

"Do you still have the pokéball? The gold and silver one?" Brittany asked, almost frantically. Kurt turned around to look at the pokéball, sitting in its glass display case, and nodded.

"Yeah, it seems like I do. Why do you ask? And where are your other friends?"

"Waiting at the bottom of the hill, Kurt," JJ answered, "they're pretty exhausted from the gym battle, didn't feel like walking up this hill again, am I right, Brittany?"

"Uh…sure, JJ, sure," Brittany said, trying to ignore the obvious diss JJ had delivered. "Anyways, we just wanted to make sure it's safe."

"Oh, don't worry about that. The GS ball is safe with me!"

As Kurt said this, they heard a rumbling coming from inside the house. It was Rex and his tyranitar, standing behind Maizie after breaking the back wall of the house. Maizie screamed as Rex shoved her aside. JJ wanted to go and help her, but Brittany pulled him back.

"Let's try not to get caught, alright? Don't want him to see us…" she whispered. Kurt was then yelling something about Rex hurting Maizie when he pulled out a pokéball and summoned his slowking. As the two battled Rex and tyranitar, Brittany summoned tangela and JJ summoned growlithe to go and grab the GS ball. They figured that the puppy pokémon would run in to break the glass while Rex was distracted, and tangela would use vine whip to grab the pokéball.

The plan seemed to work, but only so much. It became clear that Rex had noticed the growlithe that he commanded tyranitar to use hyper beam on it. The beam missed—and also nearly hit Kurt—blasting the wall behind the glass case. The GS ball tumbled from its display stand and towards the ground, only to be caught by tangela, who brought the pokéball back to it, giving it to Brittany.

"Thanks, tangela! Now, return!" she whispered. The three then ran down the hill, JJ most reluctantly so.

"Wait, Brittany! We have to go back and help them!"

"No, JJ! The most we can do is get Officer Jenny. None of our pokémon are strong enough to take on a tyranitar! Not even Fay's could…"

They ran back into town to the police station and told Officer Jenny what had happened. Within minutes, a police squad was dispatched and heading for the hill. Celebi then reappeared, satisfied that the GS ball was no longer in the wrong hands. As it was about to take them back to the future, JJ stopped it.

"No, I have to see if Maizie and Kurt are alright…"

"But, JJ…"

"No! I'm going, you can come if you want. You have the GS ball, after all…"

He then ran out of the station and back to the house. Brittany sighed and ran off as well. They made it back to the house, only to see it effectively destroyed. Maizie were sitting outside of the house crying. Rex and tyranitar were clearly gone, and the police were talking with Kurt. JJ and Brittany arrived at the top of hill, the former going to console Maizie.

"Hey…I'm sorry about all of this…"

"W-w-why?" Maizie responded, sniffling a little. "You didn't know, did you…?"

"I had no idea what was going to happen. But—I'll be honest—I did know Rex was going to be here."

Officer Jenny perked up. "He has a name, kid?" She turned to him. JJ nodded. "Ah, that's correct. He's a well-known pokémon poacher. Internationally renowned, actually. We've been on his tail for some time. What did he want?"

"This," Brittany said, holding up the GS ball. "It's used to catch celebi."

"That would indeed be dangerous for a poacher, or any thief, really. Who knows what havoc he could cause!" Jenny responded. "May we take it off of your hands?"

"Actually, Jenny," Kurt said. "It might be best if these kids held onto it, actually. There are a few ways that, I think, they could get rid of it. Either they give it to you, take it to Goldenrod's pokémon museum, or they catch celebi and release it, thereby breaking the GS ball."

Brittany and JJ thought about it for a moment. This was an oddly heavy problem for two ordinary trainers to handle. They thought about it for a moment, but eventually reached a conclusion.

"Let's take it to Goldenrod, actually. There people can see it. It's a beautiful pokéball, and it shouldn't be used only to be destroyed," Brittany explained. Jenny and Kurt nodded. JJ, who was holding onto Maizie, also nodded. "Anyways, we should probably get going, JJ…" she said.

JJ and Maizie both stood up, looked each other in the eyes, and embraced once again. As JJ was about to leave, Maizie grabbed his backpack, pulled him around, and kissed him, leaving both Brittany and Kurt dumbstruck. Officer Jenny seemed to not have a reaction, as she was too busy examining the destroyed house.

JJ and Maizie both looked at each other, and the former began to turn away to Brittany. He nodded, indicating that he was ready to leave. And so, as the two trainers left the pokéball maker's burnt house, they both felt a sense of satisfaction. Brittany—for helping to stop Rex; JJ—for having closure with Maizie. Once they were out of sight, celebi reappeared and teleported them back to the future.

* * *

Meanwhile, Fay and Niko spent their time running away from Rex and tyranitar. They leapt over fallen tree trunks and large roots, took sharp turns to the left and right to "juke" out the poacher, and even split up at one point to confuse him. This last tactic, at least in their minds, seemed to work, only as they reunited, they noticed that he was gone completely.

"Guess we got rid of him…" Niko said. Fay nodded in agreement.

Suddenly, they saw a bright light and Brittany and JJ reappeared with celebi. Brittany was holding the GS ball. Niko and Fay, very confused, immediately demanded an explanation. So JJ and Brittany, alongside the time travel pokémon, explained the whole story.

"So…this Rex guy is a pokémon poacher? And he ended up burning down Kurt's house and running away before he could get caught?" Brittany nodded as Niko's quick recollection of the events. "So…that explains where he went. He isn't in the Ilex Forest anymore, because he isn't looking for the shrine, because he doesn't have the GS ball. Makes sense."

"How are Maizie and Kurt holding up?" Fay asked.

"Fine. They're both fine," JJ responded, seeming to be feeling better.

"Are _you_ okay?" Fay then asked, questioning his friend's feelings.

"Yeah. I got the goodbye that I wanted," JJ said, smiling slightly.

"Maizie kissed JJ!" Brittany yelped out.

"Hey!" JJ exclaimed. "You promised you wouldn't say anything!" Niko and Fay roared in laughter at this as JJ slapped Brittany's shoulder.

Once they were done laughing, they all looked up at celebi, who was still watching over them. After a couple moments of silence, Brittany finally piped up.

"Don't worry, celebi, we'll make sure this is in good hands, alright?" Celebi smiled as it then flew off into the forest, presumably back to its shrine, which was untouched and would likely be for some time. Exhausted, the group then sat down to collect themselves before continuing on through the Ilex Forest, and towards Goldenrod City.


	13. Episode 13: Becoming a pokémon breeder!

**Episode 13: Becoming a pokémon breeder!**

After their episode with celebi and the pokémon poacher in the Ilex Forest, the group spent the next couple of days in the forest, either training or trying to find their way out. They quickly learned that the Ilex Forest was akin to a labyrinth, and it eventually got on everyone's nerves, so much that a fight nearly broke out between Fay and JJ over what direction they should take. JJ thought that they needed to turn back and start over, but Fay argued that turning back is what got them lost in the first place. Needless to say, the two didn't talk much for the rest of the day.

Eventually they were able to make it out of the forest, although they were very hungry, tired, and a little irritable. Sitting down to have a quick meal, the group hardly talked. They knew they were getting closer to Goldenrod City, and wanted to make progress. However, some of them—JJ included—wanted to take a mental break. Eventually, they chose to do so, taking—or trying to, at least—a small nap on the outskirts of the Ilex Forest, under some trees.

It was at this point that JJ's chikorita, who had been outside of its pokéball during lunchtime, woke up its trainer. JJ snorted abruptly, opening his eyes and looking down at his little grass type.

"What's up, chikorita?" he asked, petting the leaf on chikorita's head. The leaf pokémon turned its head and saw some other pokémon playing on the other side of a fence. "Oh, do you want to go and play with them, then?" chikorita nodded happily. "Well, let's go see what's up. Maybe they're owned by someone."

JJ stood up and, with growlithe and chikorita at his side, proceeded over to the fenced off area. As he looked around, he noticed a small cottage on the other end of the fenced off area where two elderly people were sitting on a bench overlooking the field. One of them noticed JJ, waved, and got up to go to the cottage's front door. Realizing she probably wanted to meet him, JJ also decided to go to the front door.

"Hello young man, are you here to pick up a pokémon?" she asked. JJ shook his head.

"No ma'am. My chikorita wanted to play with the pokémon here, actually. It woke me up from a nap just now."

"Oh no worries, dear, come on in, my husband and I love having visitors."

"Even strangers?" JJ asked quizzically.

"Oh, sometimes. We run a daycare here for trainers in Goldenrod. Usually it's the regulars who come by, but we always get new people, that's for sure. Oh, and my name is Carla, by the way. Who're you again?"

"Name's JJ, and this is chikorita, and growlithe. It's interesting that you mention running a daycare. I raised both of these pokémon from eggs, one of them from a daycare in Kanto."

Carla looked at JJ with more interest than he's seen in a while, bar Maizie. "Is that so? Are you aiming to be a pokémon breeder?"

"Yeah, kinda I guess. Hadn't really considered it until a friend of mine convinced me to try it out," JJ responded, immediately thinking of Maizie. It was because of her that he wanted to be a breeder.

Carla let JJ and his pokémon out to the field behind their cottage. "JJ, this is my husband, Haydin. Haydin, this is JJ. He's a traveler from Kanto who is interested in being a pokémon breeder."

Haydin, a short gray-haired man stood up from his chair to shake JJ's hand, introducing himself and making small talk as he slowly sat back down. "So…traveler eh? What made you do that?" he asked in a raspy sort of voice.

"Well, two of my childhood friends are challenging gyms here in Johto, and I want to see more of the world, so I decided to join them."

"Traveling is a great way to become a breeder. You get to meet and engage with new pokémon, learn their habits and such. You also meet a lot of new trainers and get to observe first-hand how they raise their pokémon. You begin to see problems and solutions to training, good methods and practices, you get the point. I traveled for years, learning the same things you are now. That's how I met Carla, here."

"I'm originally from the Hoenn Region, actually. But I met Haydin when he was passing through Verdanturf Town, where I grew up. I decided to join him one day and, well, we haven't stopped having adventures."

JJ, now touched, looked up and saw his chikorita and growlithe running around with the other pokémon. He saw a variety of pokémon out in the fields, some he had never seen before, but grinned all the same. It was nice to see his companions enjoying themselves. To him, it made the journey worth it.

"So, JJ, you off to Goldenrod City next, I assume?" Carla asked. JJ nodded in response.

"Yeah, my friends are going to challenge the gym there. Should be exciting. All of their matches are, actually."

Speaking of his friends, the three members of his group had finally noticed his absence and were walking over to the cottage, choosing not to jump over the fence and instead walk to the front door, where Carla had gone to greet them. She proceeded to bring them out to the field as well, and her and Haydin went through the same round of questions as they had with JJ.

"So you two competed in Kanto's league, eh?" Haydin asked Fay and Niko.

"Yeah, it was an incredible experience," Fay replied, knowing that Niko chose not to. He did not, in fact, have as good of a time as Fay had. "But now we're in Johto doing the same thing."

"And…what do you think of Johto, compared to Kanto?"

"Oh, it's a beautiful place. We haven't seen all of it, that's for sure, but I haven't had any troubles with it yet. I know Niko here appreciates all of the history here, that's for sure. He's a big history nerd."

Niko chuckled silently at this, and nodded shyly. "Yeah, I enjoyed seeing the Ruins of Alph and celebi's shrine in the Ilex Forest."

"Well, Niko, you'll love Ecruteak City then. No other city in Johto has as much history as Ecruteak. I'm sure you'll like Morty—their gym leader—as well. He has an obsession with the legends here in Johto."

"I look forward to meeting him, then," Niko responded.

As Niko, Fay, and JJ were talking with Carla and Haydin, Brittany was off playing with the pokémon. She summoned wartortle and tangela to join the others, who were participating in a race between all of the pokémon at the daycare. Growlithe ended up winning, beating out a pikachu, by using flame wheel successfully. The pokémon then ran after Brittany in what looked like a game of tag, which the trainer thoroughly enjoyed.

"So…" Haydin said, looking over at Brittany, "Is she planning on being a pokémon breeder, too?"

JJ, Niko, and Fay all looked at each other. It just occurred to them that they never really knew _what_ Brittany's goal was, exactly. She never really talked much about her future, instead focusing primarily on the present and, occasionally, her past, which was hardly blemished.

"You know…maybe she wants to be a breeder, too," JJ suggested. "I mean, she loves hanging out with pokémon, and is always helping me take care of them when Fay and Niko are off training. Once we went into the Dark Cave, and while Niko was off getting help, Brittany helped Fay and I fix up this guy's knee."

"Yeah," Niko said, agreeing, "She's got a really good heart, that's for sure."

"Then maybe she should consider the same goal as you, JJ," Carla suggested. "It'll allow both of you to grow as pokémon breeders."

JJ nodded in agreement, getting up and walking over to Brittany. As he did so, he was tackled to the ground by growlithe and chikorita. Chuckling a little, Brittany walked over to help her friend up.

"Hey JJ, what's going on?"

"Heh, not much. Just wanted to see what these guys are up to. Having fun, I see?"

"Yeah, this place is great! The pokémon are such a blast. Carla and Haydin have a great job."

"They're just doing what they love. Say, did I ever tell you that I wanted to be a pokémon breeder?"

"You told me several times, JJ," Brittany said, smirking, "and that Maizie gave you the idea," JJ blushed at this, realizing that he may have gotten out of hand a few times. "Why do you ask?"

"Oh, no reason. Just that after watching you interact with these pokémon, I think that maybe you should give it a shot, too!" Brittany didn't seem nearly as taken back by JJ's statement as he had originally thought, only smiling and nodding in agreement.

"Maybe, I'm not sure what I want to do. I just know that I love pokémon and traveling."

"Same here! And so did Haydin! And Carla!" JJ exclaimed. "All I'm saying is maybe give it a shot, you never know!"

"JJ," Brittany, expressing a look of both sternness and humor, began, "I never said that I wasn't interested in it. Just that I don't know exactly where the future is going to take me."

"I totally understand. Just wanted to help out, is all!"

"And I appreciate that, JJ!" Brittany said as JJ was walking off towards their friends. It seemed like he was a little embarrassed, but neither she nor he could figure out why. Nonetheless, she joined him back at the small table with her friends, taking a seat next to Niko.

The group talked with Carla and Haydin for some time before the sun began to set. As they prepared to leave, the couple stopped them for a moment.

"Here, Brittany," Carla said, walking over with a yellow and black egg. "A parting gift for you. JJ mentioned you might be interested in pokémon breeding, and your friends suggested that we help you out. Well, here's your start."

Brittany took the egg, more surprised than ever. "Wow…thanks…I-I don't know what I did to earn this."

"Well, nothing, really," Niko piped in, "You're just a great, caring friend. I know that firsthand. We want to cheer you on in whatever you want to do, just like you do for Fay and I."

Brittany was now at a loss for words. She went and embraced each of her friends individually, as well as Carla and Haydin. "Thanks…I won't let you down! Whatever is in this egg will be raised as best as it can be!"

Carla nodded happily. "I have no doubt in my mind. Good luck, all of you."

With that, the group left the daycare, filled with excitement for what the future lay for them and their chosen goals as they made their way to Goldenrod City.


	14. Episode 14: Mayhem at the museum!

**Episode 14: Mayhem at the museum!**

The group finally made it to Goldenrod City the morning following their adventures in the Ilex Forest and at the daycare. In the latter event, Brittany had received a yellow and black pokémon egg as a start to her potential career of becoming a pokémon breeder, alongside JJ.

Goldenrod City was the largest city in the Johto Region and, some might say, larger than any in Kanto as well. As they sat down in the pokémon center having lunch, they were overwhelmed by the litany of activities that they could do.

"Would you look at this, guys!" JJ said, "There's a game corner, radio station, department store, museum, pokémon salon, and the gym, of course."

"Say, JJ. Who's the gym leader here?" Niko wondered.

"Oh," JJ said, turning to the section on gym leaders in his pamphlet. "Whitney. She uses normal types. Don't think you guys have any advantages against her. Now, if you used your Kanto pokémon, then maybe…"

"Well, we'll get through it as we usually do," Fay said optimistically. His previous gym battle, against Bugsy, went far better than he had expected, particularly when his cyndaquil, who previously had a fear of fire, finally got over it and was able to bring home the win for the team.

"Anyways! What should we do first?" Brittany said excitedly. "I do want to go to the museum, though. Need to deliver the GS ball."

"Right, of course," JJ said, "I also want to take eevee to the pokémon salon. I read that getting haircuts for your pokémon helps to increase the bond between it and a trainer. Or something like that."

"Wait…JJ…" Fay began, "when did _you_ read?"

"Err…I've always read!" JJ stammered in response.

"Sure you have. Sure you have," Fay said as he got back to his noodles.

The group ultimately decided to check out the radio tower and department stores first, although splitting up, since Fay wanted to get some shopping done and Niko wanted to learn about the history of the radio tower. Brittany decided to accompany Fay and JJ went with Niko.

Turns out that the radio tower had a pretty rich history. It was built nearly a hundred years previous, when radio was becoming a widely-used form of media. It has also been the site of attacks by Team Rocket, but due to the gang's disbandment, no such attacks have occurred since. During the tour, Niko and JJ were both given radio cards, if they were ever interested in listening to the radio shows in Johto. Pointing out that they didn't even have radios, the tour guide pointed them to the gift shop on the first floor. The two visited after the tour—and the radios were pretty cheap.

They also got the chance to participate in a lottery at the front desk that all tourists and other visitors were encouraged to do. At the beginning of the tour, they all picked a lottery ticket with six digit numbers on them, and at the end of the tour they would reveal who won what prizes. A woman with short, ruby-red hair and a white dress skirt with a baby blue skirt announced the winners.

"Helloooo tourists! My name is Felicity, and I run the front desk here at the Goldenrod Radio Tower! Wooo!" the tourists clapped enthusiastically. "We will now announce the winners of the lottery! Aaaand here's the first number! 4-5-1-9-3-9! Who has it!?"

A young girl who didn't look much older than 13 ran up to receive her prize—an ultra ball.

"Wow, Niko those are pretty good pokéballs, actually!" JJ mentioned. Niko nodded, eying the yellow and black pokéball with interest.

"Aaaand here's the next number! This winner will receive a free gift card to Goldenrod's Underground Salon!" Felicity yelled out excitedly. "1-6-3-9-8-2!"

JJ looked at his ticket. The numbers matched exactly. He thrust his ticket into the air, catching Felicity's attention, and proceeded to barrel through the crowd to get up to her. From Niko's perspective, the whole ordeal was hilarious, but he didn't get JJ know that. JJ took the gift card happily, skipping back to Niko with excitement in his expression.

"Niko, this is excellent! I can use this to give eevee a nice new haircut! I mean, I was already planning on doing it, but now I can do it for free!" Niko smiled, pleased to see JJ so happy. During the journey from Azalea Town to Goldenrod, Niko noticed that JJ seemed less, well, chipper than he usually is. He attributes this to Maizie. Having known JJ for years now, he hardly ever found the curly blonde boy take much interest in women. At least, he never outright showed it. Maizie was, as far as Niko was concerned, his first real crush. And, going on a journey where he would only be but a passerby in every town and city he visited, he only got to briefly know Maizie. Niko figured that finding ways to cheer JJ up would help him get over the brunette pokéball maker.

The two left the Radio Tower, planning to head to the Goldenrod Underground next. That's where the salon was, according to JJ. That's also where they planned to meet up with Fay and Brittany once they finished shopping.

The Goldenrod Underground was far nicer than Niko had imagined. He pictured it to be the kind of place where drug deals went down but, no, it was more like a miniature strip mall. Although—and Niko didn't find this surprising at all—but there were some sketchy people trying to sell him what looked like drugs (but in all likelihood probably weren't).

They eventually found the salon at the opposite end of the underground. It was a small, cozy looking shop where two men—one older, the other only a few years younger—were styling a couple of pokémon (oddly enough, one of those was a golbat, but Niko and JJ didn't seem to ask how or why).

JJ walked up to the cash register as one of the owners met him. "Hello, how may I help you?"

"Oh, hi! I was wondering if my eevee could get a haircut!" JJ said. However, as he did so growlithe pawed at his ankles. "Oh, and my growlithe as well. Sorry, buddy, didn't realize you wanted one, too," the puppy pokémon yipped happily.

"No problem. My brother and I will get right on that, as soon as we finish with this golbat and this other eevee. Now, would you like to pay now or later?"

"Later would work. I have a gift card that I won from the Radio Tower, but I need to see how much cash I actually have first."

"No worries," the younger brother said as he got back to grooming the golbat. JJ sat down next to Niko in one of the waiting chairs, unzipping a small pouch in his backpack and pulling out some change. After counting it up, he realized he had enough to cover growlithe's haircut as well.

Meanwhile, Niko picked up a magazine and began reading. There was one interview in particular in _Pokémon Daily_ that piqued his interest. It was an interview with the newly crowned champion of the Johto League's Elite 4, Lance. If Niko recalled correctly, Lance was also a member of the Kanto Elite 4. As he read through the interview, he noticed that Lance had now given up his Elite 4 position to take up the role of champion. The fourth member of the Elite 4 in Kanto would be decided at the next Indigo League tournament, when the champion there would receive an offer to become a member of their Elite 4. As it also turns out, Elite 4 members can challenge the Elite 4's in other regions without going through the ordinary tournament. Niko found all of this fascinating.

It was then JJ's turn. He brought eevee and growlithe up to the two brothers and explained that he—at the very least—wanted just an ordinary cut for the both of them. The whole process took roughly 15 minutes. Coming out of their chairs, both eevee and growlithe looked pleasantly satisfied with their new looks. The puppy pokémon's hair was a little shorter around its neck and tail, while eevee had some hair cut around its neck and had the top of its head styled a little in the front by pushing the hair back. From Niko's perspective, it looked a little odd, but JJ was the trainer, not him.

JJ then paid the two brothers, giving them a gift card and nearly all of the money he had, and joined Niko outside of the salon, where his friend was just offered some weird looking herb. Moments later, Brittany and Fay found them, having also been offered the same herb that Niko turned down.

"What's up with that guy?" Fay said, pointing over his shoulder.

"No clue. Didn't know what he was offering, and didn't care. Anyways, how was the department store?"

"Brittany had a freaking field day there. I had to convince her three times that we were low on funds. But we did get some supplies, and I think we should go back there to grab food before we head off to the next city. How'd it go with you two?"

"Well, the Radio Tower was pretty cool. JJ won a gift card to this salon from a lottery the station was holding. So he got growlithe and eevee haircuts," Brittany and Fay looked down at JJ's two pokémon, who were talking with each other in some unknown language about how much they loved their new looks.

"They definitely look happy. Are you happy with them, JJ?" Brittany asked, giving eevee a curious look.

"They…look great. Not what I had expected, at least for eevee, but hey, if they like it, then I like it!" JJ said, slightly exasperated. "Anyways, let's head to the museum so you can donate the GS ball."

The group then walked off towards the museum, which was conveniently on the other side of the city. But once they got there, it was a really impressive sight. It was far larger than Pewter's museum, and looked far more elegant. As they walked up the stone steps to the front entrance, they marveled at the large marble columns passing by them.

At the registration desk, they were asked to pay a small fee which JJ begrudgingly paid for. He definitely did not enjoy being low on money. Brittany then asked where they took donations.

"Oh, sorry honey, we don't accept donations," the front desk lady said in a slightly snotty voice.

"What!? You're a museum! Why wouldn't you take something that clearly as value?"

"You have to have it donated to the Archeological Association of Johto first. When they accept it, they will take it and choose to donate it here if they so please."

Brittany pulled out the GS ball and slammed it on the desk. "Does _this_ have any worth?!"

"No honey, it does not…"

Brittany was livid. She then stormed off into the museum with a very nervous group of boys following in her wake. She eventually found someone who looked like a real authority, and handed him the GS ball.

The man—presumably a manager of something—looked quite impressed with the GS ball. Brittany then relayed the story of how she ended up with the pokéball to him, leaving out the time traveling. The manager, a far older man than anyone in the group, nodded and asked if he could take a closer look at it. Brittany nodded, but as he left with the GS ball, she noticed something odd about the man. From his backside, she could have sworn she saw some blue hair under what now seemed to be a white toupee. She ran, jumped, and grabbed the toupee off of the man, revealing blue hair underneath it. He turned around immediately, shocked that the young brunette seemed to figure him out.

"Jessie! Now!" he yelled out. As he did so, a woman with long pink hair leapt from the glass ceiling at the top of the museum, a small meowth right at her side. The meowth then pressed a button, dropping electric nets all over the artifacts.

"Hehe, our boss will love this. Rare collections for his office!"

"And a GS ball to catch legendary pokémon with! Wow, it's been ages since we've seen this. Where'd you get it, little girl?"

"Who're you calling little?" Brittany puffed, "And who're you!?"

"Ah, girl, you haven't heard of us?" the pink-haired lady said, cackling. "We're obviously the most famous thieves in the world."

"Dats woit!" the meowth added. "We gatsta pleeze da bawse. Eva since we gave up on dat twoip's pikachu, we've been scramblin' to find new tings to pleeze him."

"Yeah, okay," Fay muttered. "But who _are_ you?"

"Hehe, little boy, if you ask, you should prepare for trouble."

"And if you continue to persist, make it double."

"I'm Jessie," the pink-haired lady said.

"And I'm James," the blue-haired man added.

"Once we're through with you, Team Rocket will be blasting off at the speed of light."

"And if you keep at it, you better be ready to fight."

"Meowth, dats right!"

"Wait a second…I thought Team Rocket disbanded!" Niko shouted out. "We stopped them in Viridian City last spring!"

"What…?" James asked, looking thoroughly confused. "No no kid, Team Rocket will never die out, as long as we're around! Yamask, I choose you! Shadow ball!" James commanded, sending out an odd-looking pokémon who appeared to be a ghost type.

"Eevee, you're up!" JJ yelled, knowing that the normal type would render any ghost move useless. He was right—the shadow ball phased through eevee and collided with the ground, albeit nearly throwing JJ off of his feet. "Now eevee, use—huh?"

The evolution pokémon began to glow, illuminating the whole museum. Team Rocket looked away to avoid the light, as did the group. What resulted was a black-looking pokémon with yellow rings around its ears and tail, on its forehead and legs. JJ, unfamiliar with the pokémon, pulled out his pokédex:

" _Umbreon, the moonlight pokémon. Dark type. On the night of a full moon, or when it gets excited, the ring patterns on its body glow yellow_."

JJ stared at his starter pokémon in awe. He knew, back in Celadon City, what he originally planned eevee to evolve into, but he never expected _this_ to happen. Umbreon looked back at JJ, smiling warmly.

Team Rocket started to tiptoe away, clearly using the evolution as a distraction. But JJ and umbreon noticed them too quickly.

"Umbreon, use quick attack!" JJ commanded. The moonlight pokémon rushed forward, running straight through the yamask and slamming into meowth, knocking it into a wall. Jessie was then about to pull out a pokéball when umbreon used quick attack on her, too. As yamask regained its composure and launched another shadow ball, umbreon turned around and retaliated by slamming its tail into the ball, sending it backwards into yamask.

Meanwhile, James was on the run still, and while umbreon was dealing with yamask, growlithe rushed towards the blue-haired Team Rocket member, picking up speed since its haircut gave it less wind resistance. It slammed its head into James' back, causing him to fall forward and drop the GS ball. Brittany then picked it up and looked down at James, smirking.

Officer Jenny arrived minutes later to apprehend Team Rocket. "We've dealt with these clowns before, no need to worry here."

"Why were they here, officer?" Niko asked.

"No idea. They like to stalk places like this hoping that they can get a chance to steal something. Again, trust me—I've dealt with them before. I have no idea how they do it over and over again," she said as she walked off with two other officer's each holding a different member of Team Rocket.

The group then looked at each other, and then all eyes turned on JJ.

"Dude, that was incredible. Eevee—I mean, umbreon—really stepped up here," Fay said, petting umbreon's head lightly. JJ smiled, nodding his head in agreement. As they continued talking about the new addition to their team, Brittany was approached by someone who seemed to be the actual manager of the museum. Turns out, he _was_ interested in the GS ball, and chose to put it in display in their "modern artifacts" exhibit. Brittany was elated by this, and left the museum more cheerful than she had been previously.

The group sat down for dinner in the pokémon center that night, reflecting on the day before them. Brittany was caressing her egg; JJ feeding umbreon and growlithe, praising them both for a job well done; Niko and Fay were sitting and independently pondering their next gym match, which would take place the following day. Neither were sure how they would deal with normal types, but both seemed confident enough that they could pull out another win. Only time would tell, though.


	15. Episode 15: Whitney's rolling out!

**Episode 15: Whitney's rolling out!**

After the situation at the Goldenrod Museum, in which JJ and his newly evolved umbreon disposed of Team Rocket, the group turned their attention to the Goldenrod City gym, where Niko and Fay would compete for their third Johto gym badge. The gym was, naturally, on the opposite end of town from the pokémon center, and so it took a fair amount of time for them to arrive. Once they did, however, they were both more than ready.

The gym was a large dome-shaped building with a picture of a clefairy above the double doors in front. As the group walked in, the battlefield was just like its signature type—normal. It was a relatively plain, dirt battlefield with markings indicating boundaries. As Niko and Fay walked up to the challenger's end of the field, they saw a pair of young women who looked like ordinary schoolgirls approaching them from their left.

"Hello boys," they both said. "Are you here for a gym match?" Niko and Fay nodded affirmatively. "Oh! Great! We'll let Whitney know ASAP. She's tending to her pokémon right now.

"Oh, no worries, we can wait," Niko said, waving as they disappeared behind another set of double doors. Moments later, they reappeared with an older-looking, pink-haired woman in white athletic clothes. She quickly examined Niko and Fay, both of whom looked a little ruffled up (Niko for one didn't bother brushing his already unkempt hair).

"You're both my challengers?" she said in a squeaky voice, one that didn't seem to befit her age.

"Yeah…separate challengers, though," Fay added. Whitney nodded, and moved to the other end of the battlefield while Fay stood at his end. Niko had opted to go second this time, as he had gone first against Bugsy.

One of the schoolgirls—presumably Whitney's assistant—acted as the judge of the match. "This will be a two-on-two pokémon battle. Once both trainer's pokémon are defeated, they lose. You may begin whenever both pokémon are on the field."

"Clefairy, I choose you!" Whitney said energetically.

"Cyndaquil, let's go!" Fay commanded, choosing to rely on his fire pokémon to start the match. "Use smokescreen!"

"Clefairy, respond with metronome!" Whitney shouted out. As cyndaquil was filling the battlefield with thick black smoke, the normal type began to slowly wag its fingers that eventually started to glow. It then unleashed a spray of bubbles through the smoke, nearly hitting cyndaquil. The fire mouse pokémon narrowly dodged the move, surprisingly enough, and rushed through the smokes to clefairy, tackling it to the ground from the side.

"Cyndaquil, use ember up close!" Fay commanded. Cyndaquil then unleashed a spray of small balls of fire at its opponent from roughly a foot away, only to be slapped consecutively in retaliation. While cyndaquil was on the ground reeling from the slaps, clefairy proceeded to use another metronome, this time using quick attack, and slamming into the fire mouse before she knew what had hit her.

"Cyndaquil, use ember again! Keep repeating until it hits!" Fay shouted out. The fire mouse obeyed, continuing to shoot fireballs from her mouth at the normal type. Eventually the attacks landed, causing clefairy to fall backwards with a slight burn on its face. "Now, use tackle to finish it off!"

"Clefairy is unable to battle, cyndaquil wins! Whitney will now send out her second pokémon!"

"Miltank, let's go!"

"Miltank, eh?" Niko said curiously, pulling out his pokédex:

" _Miltank, the milk cow pokémon. Normal type. Its milk is packed with nutrition, making it the ultimate beverage for the sick or weary_."

"Interesting pokémon. I heard that this miltank makes it very difficult for trainers to beat Whitney, actually," JJ mentioned, "I read it in some reader reviews in a magazine."

"Miltank, use rollout!" Whitney commanded. The large, pink cow leapt into the air and, as it landed, turned into a ball and rolled straight at cyndaquil. The fire type narrowly missed the attack, but that didn't stop miltank. It continued to roll around, chasing the agile cyndaquil. Quickly understanding Whitney's strategy with miltank, Fay recalled cyndaquil.

"Mareep, let's go!" he shouted out. "Use thunderwave!"

"Miltank, dodge by jumping over it!" Whitney cried out. Miltank then surprised everyone but Whitney and her assistants: it was a surprisingly good jumper, managing to clear the thunderwave and following up with a rollout attack.

"Mareep, dodge and use thunderwave again!" Fay commanded. Mareep edged out of the rollout's path and quickly used another thunderwave. This time, it was able to stop miltank, but only momentarily at best. The milk cow pokémon managed to escape the paralysis after taking a single thundershock.

"Hehehe…" Whitney said, smirking, "Miltank, let's see how the challenger reacts to this…use attract!"

Out of nowhere, the milk cow pokémon looked extremely attractive to mareep. At least now Fay knew the gender of his wool pokémon. But he also knew the gender of cyndaquil.

"Mareep, return! Cyndaquil, let's go!" Fay commanded, switching out his pokémon once more. "Use smokescreen!"

"Miltank, rollout to block the smoke!" Whitney commanded. As cyndaquil unleashed another large cloud of thick smoke, its opponent ran right through it, once more narrowly missing the fire mouse (and Fay!) before turning around and rushing towards cyndaquil once more.

"Cyndaquil, lean into the attack and use ember repeatedly!" Fay commanded. Somehow, the ember worked. Cyndaquil didn't move a muscle as it repeatedly launched tiny balls of fire from its mouth, eventually causing miltank to catch on fire and halt its attack.

Again, Whitney seemed prepared. "Miltank, use milk drink now!"

Suddenly the normal type was glowing, as if it were evolving, but in reality it was just healing. Fay looked down at the ground in frustration, trying to figure out how to beat this thing. He was lucky that he still had both of his pokémon, but they would get exhausted eventually, whereas this miltank could heal whenever it needed to. Fay, essentially, needed a miracle to win this one.

"Cyndaquil, we can do this, I believe in you! Use smokescreen once again, but stop once you've cleared the field in it; don't continue."

The fire mouse did as told, only bellowing out enough smoke to cover the field in a thin layer of the thick dark gray gas. Miltank then, predictably, used rollout. However, cyndaquil had moved to the side of its line of fire. Miltank did not immediately realize this, and ended up nearly slamming into the stands.

"Perfect, cyndaquil! Do it again! Fill the field with smoke!" Fay yelled out encouragingly. Seeing where cyndaquil was now, miltank rushed forward with its attack, only to once again miss due to cyndaquil disappearing into the smoke. However, Whitney figured this and commanded miltank to turn around. This exercise repeated itself until the smoke had cleared from the field. Miltank, now moving incredibly fast, was aiming straight for a now exhausted cyndaquil. Then, Fay had an idea. But it was risky. "Cyndaquil, take the hit!"

Cyndaquil, now incredibly confused, turned to its trainer with a look of nervousness. It was then immediately hit by the speeding milk cow, launching the fire type into Fay's arms and causing him to fall back over.

"Cyndaquil is unable to battle, miltank wins! Fay will send out his second pokémon!"

"Ugh…sorry, cyndaquil," Fay said, returning an understandably pissed off cyndaquil. "Alright, mareep, you're up!"

"Miltank, rollout again, honey!" Whitney smirked, winking at Fay.

"Mareep, thunderwave!"

The thunderwave hit this time, successfully paralyzing miltank. But Fay also knew that it wouldn't last long, so he commanded mareep to repeatedly use the attack, hoping that it would increase the length of paralysis for the miltank.

This didn't seem to work, and miltank was able to get back up and use a quick rollout on mareep, knocking it down like a small domino. Whitney then commanded it to use stomp, and the milk cow pokémon proceeded to do so, kicking mareep's side. It then placed the same stubby foot on mareep's head, indicating its inevitable victory.

"Mareep, thundershock!" Fay shouted. The wool pokémon unleashed a moderately powerful jolt of electricity, causing the large cow to yelp loudly in pain. As it turned out, its foot was its weak spot. As miltank collapsed backwards, Fay commanded it to use thundershock once more, focusing on the bottom of miltank's feet. Mareep did so, causing the miltank to cry out.

"M-m-miltank!" Whitney yelled out, her eyes watery. "Use m-m-m-milk d-d-drink!"

However, miltank had difficulty even moving at this point, as mareep then followed up with a thunderwave, paralyzing it while the wool pokémon delivered a tackle, finishing it.

"Miltank is unable to battle, mareep wins! The victory goes to Fay from…err, where're you from again? Oh…right! Pallet Town!"

Whitney beamed angrily at Fay as she returned miltank, ultimately turning away to go heal them up. As Niko traded places with Fay, they quickly realized she wasn't coming back.

"Err…what's going on?" Niko asked the two schoolgirls.

"Well, uh, Whitney hates to lose, you see. She's been a gym leader for years now, but she still can't seem to get over a loss!"

Niko nodded, seeming to understand. "May I speak with her, then?" The schoolgirls shrugged, seeming to permit it.

The brown-haired trainer walked into the backroom where the healing station was, and noticed Whitney caressing miltank's foot. She immediately noticed Niko, and threw him an ugly look.

"Heh…hey Whitney. Do you still want to battle?" Niko asked nervously.

" _No. No I do not_." Whitney said, steaming.

"I heard you don't like to lose. Is that true?" Niko asked, trying to be as polite and careful as possible. Whitney nodded, refusing to make eye contact with him. "Well, I understand that feeling. You know, when I was travelling in Kanto, I only lost one gym match—to Sabrina—and I thought I could deal with that. It seemed fine to me—she was a tough gym leader. _Really_ tough, actually.

"But then I got to the pokémon league at Indigo Plateau. I never imagined myself winning the whole thing—it was nice to think about, but let's be honest, I was a new trainer, and I didn't have enough experience training pokémon to really make a serious run for the championship. But I came in the Top 32. I lost in the third round. _THIRD!_ And to make matters worse, I lost to Fay, actually. My closest friend, who himself had not lost a gym match until then. I don't know why I felt so bad. I also felt jealous of his ability to train pokémon so well, and I didn't think I was standing up to my own standards or those of my pokémon. It hurt, more than I had expected it to. But it was my friends—including Fay, the guy who beat me—that convinced me to keep on going. That's why I'm in Johto now. That's why I'm challenging you. Because I wanted to give it another shot.

"Listen, I know I'm no good at persuading people to do anything. Just ask the girls I've tried to date! Ask my parents every time I get in an argument with them! I'm terrible at it. So I don't expect you to take my story to heart. I just want you to understand that we all have these tough moments. Losing is hard, but I am starting to believe that it makes you a stronger trainer in the end. And I can see that in your miltank. It's probably one of the strongest pokémon from a gym leader that Fay has come up against."

As Niko was about to turn and leave, he felt something tap his shoulder. It was Whitney. Niko turned around and immediately felt the gym leader embrace him. She was also clearly crying, but likely not because of Niko's speech.

After letting go and sniffling a little, Whitney looked at Niko and, with red eyes, nodded. "I accept your challenge, trainer."

Niko patted her on the shoulder and walked back out onto the battlefield, Whitney right behind him. As his friends looked at him in astonishment, Niko just shrugged his shoulders, as if to indicate that he had no idea his speech was going to succeed. As he reached his end of the field, he turned to face Whitney, who already had miltank ready to go. It appears as if she was going to use her strongest pokémon first. Niko smirked. He felt like he could win this too, having seen miltank's abilities.

"Hoothoot, let's go!" Niko cried out as his owl pokémon flew out of the pokéball and landed on the ground. Miltank started off with a rollout that hoothoot was able to easily evade. "Use take down, hoothoot!" the flying type then launched down to meet miltank, who had just gotten out of its rollout. The two collided, however it seemed that hoothoot had taken more damage, relatively speaking.

"Miltank, use milk drink and follow up with stomp!" Whitney called out. However, as miltank was healing Niko and hoothoot followed up with a series of pecks, which seemed to annoy miltank. The milk cow pokémon then grabbed onto hoothoot's talon as it retreated and slammed the owl into the ground, causing dirt particles to fly up into the air. It proceeded with stomp as commanded, nearly knocking out the owl pokémon.

"Hoothoot, fly back up into the air and use take down again!" Niko commanded. Miltank braced itself for impact as the owl pokémon launched towards it, but Niko had other plans in mind!" Now, change directions and fly back up!"

Hoothoot did as told, halting its use of take down and curving back into the air, evading miltank's outstretched arms. Hoothoot then shot back down, slamming into the cow's face and ultimately taking itself down.

"Hoothoot is unable to battle, miltank wins! Niko will send out his second pokémon!"

"Totodile, I choose you! Water gun!" the big jaw pokémon jumped out of its pokéball, happy as can be, launching a strong burst of water at its opponent, who took the hit head on before using rollout once again. "Now, totodile, jump on miltank and ride it!"

Totodile looked confused, almost anxious, but it obeyed all the same. It leapt into the air, landing directly on miltank as it rolled around the battlefield, the big jaw pokémon running in place to maintain its position. Eventually, it jumped off as miltank ended the rollout, and proceeded to use water gun up close. Miltank, being shot in the face by a gush of water, seemed to be more annoyed then damaged. While it was distracted from clearing the water off of its face, Niko pulled out his trump card (patented by Fay, of course).

"Totodile, use bite on its leg!" Niko cried out. Totodile then slid down on its side and bite miltank's stubby foot, causing the milk cow to wince in pain before trying to shake off the big jaw pokémon. Turns out that was more difficult than either Whitney or miltank had imagined, but Niko knew from experience. Once it had enough, Niko then commanded it to use water gun followed by a tackle. This seemed to be enough to defeat the cow.

"Miltank is unable to battle, totodile wins! Whitney will now use her second pokémon!"

Whitney, seeming upset, sent out her clefairy as expected. Niko and totodile braced for this one, knowing full well that its metronome attack would decide the match.

"Totodile, use water gun!"

"Clefairy, use metronome!" Whitney cried out. Clefairy wagged its fingers again, resulting in a hyper beam that was only strong enough to simply counter the water gun. Pleased with this, Niko then commanded a tackle attack, followed up by a bite. Totodile landed the tackle, but received a series of slaps to the face as it tried to bite. Clefairy then used metronome again.

It was self-destruct.

The small explosion was enough to defeat clefairy for sure, but it launched totodile backwards, far enough that it slammed into the stands opposite the group.

"Totodile, can you get up?" Niko cried out. Totodile hadn't taken much damage before the explosion, and so it was really up in the air whether it was still standing. It got up briefly, but then collapsed back on the ground.

"Clefairy and totodile are both unable to battle. The match results in a tie, and a victory for Leader Whitney by default!" the schoolgirl-judge declared.

As Niko picked up totodile, telling it how proud he was of it, Whitney was shaking her head.

"No…no, this was not a tie," she said, looking decisively at her assistant, who was not confused.

"Whitney…? I thought you knew—"

"I know fully well what the rules are. But there are exceptions to every rule. And this kid here is one of them. He came up and tried to cheer me up, not even thinking that he would succeed. And he fought hard, but came up short because of random chance. I am still awarding him with the plain badge."

Whitney walked over to Niko and Fay, the latter of whom had already walked over to join Niko alongside Brittany and JJ. She handed each of them a badge.

"Wow…err…thanks, Whitney," Niko said in shock. Totodile, who was still in Niko's arms, was equally shocked, as evidenced by its wide-open mouth. "I-I don't know if I've actually earned it."

"Oh, Niko, you have, honey," Whitney said, winking at him. "I appreciate what you did for me. It helped a lot to realize I'm not the only trainer who loses. I mean, I see it all the time, and I still lose a lot, but I guess we always need that reminder to keep moving on."

Niko nodded. He and Fay said thanks to Whitney and her assistants for the battle, and they began to exit the Goldenrod gym, eager to head back to the pokémon center and have a quick meal before deciding where to head next. Both Fay and Niko walked away from the gym match feeling proud of their progress as trainers, but still understood that it wasn't going to get easier, and they would need to continue to keep training in order to keep up.


	16. Episode 16: Imitation sudowoodo

**Episode 16: Imitation sudowoodo**

"Next gym is in Ecruteak City, guys," JJ said, examining their pamphlet as per usual. Niko perked up when he heard this.

"That's the town with all of the history, right?" JJ nodded.

"It's also supposed to be really beautiful, especially in the fall. So we'll be catching the tail end of it, probably. Oh," he then turned to the section on gym leaders, "by the way, the gym leader, Morty, is a ghost-type user."

"Oh, wow," Niko replied, a little taken aback by this. He had only experienced one battle with a ghost type trainer, and that was against Agatha of the Elite 4 back in Kanto. Needless to say, she pummeled him with her gengar. "Wonder if he uses gengar, too."

"It's likely, seeing as there aren't many ghost type pokémon native to Kanto or Johto. At least, that's what I've heard. I could be very wrong, though."

Niko at least seemed assured that he could pull through again. In his battle against Whitney, he ended up tying but received the plain badge all the same, since he was able to cheer the gym leader up. Fay, on the other hand, didn't say much. For some reason, the roles seemed reversed that day—Fay being the less sure trainer in their group, and Niko being far surer of himself than he usually is. Maybe it was dumb luck in his gym match, or maybe it was something deeper. Either way, the group left the pokémon center after a quick lunch and went to grab supplies at the department store in Goldenrod City.

As they were combing through the various aisles on the grocery floor, JJ was explaining his recent conversation with Maizie to Fay, who seemed only partly interested. The night before, after they got back from the museum, JJ called Maizie, a girl he met in Azalea Town that he seemed to fancy. As JJ described, they talked for what seemed to be half an hour about a variety of things. It seemed like they were getting more serious, but JJ pointed out that there was no way they could, since he was warned by Niko that long-distance relationships didn't always pan out well. When he brought this up to Maizie, she seemed a little hurt, but understood that they couldn't be more than just friends, at least while he was traveling.

Meanwhile, Niko and Brittany were searching around for food that could last a while. JJ had mentioned that since Ecruteak was one of the northernmost points in Johto, it would take a week or two to get there, which no one seemed to have much of an issue with. As they were in the canned food aisle, they overheard two middle-aged women talking.

"…wait, so they can't get through Route 35?" one of them, a red-haired woman, asked in astonishment.

"Apparently so! The bloody tree is blocking their way and won't move!" the second, this one a blond-haired woman, responded with equal astonishment.

"Hmm, I wonder if the police can try and forcibly remove it. Do you think it's a pokémon?"

"Could be, but it seems like no one knows for sure…"

Niko and Brittany exchanged curious looks. They proceeded to quickly pay for their food and rushed out of the grocery store to see JJ and Fay waiting for them.

"You two look like you've got something on your minds…everything alright?" Fay wondered.

"Yeah, everything's fine. We just overheard these two women talking about an immovable tree on Route 35. Apparently is immobile."

"Huh…we actually have to pass through Route 35. Let's go check it out then?" JJ said as the group began to leave the department store and, subsequently, Goldenrod City.

It felt nice to be back on the road again. At the very least, Niko and Brittany seemed to be filled with hope. On the other hand, JJ felt confusion relating to Maizie, and Fay was confused about his own feelings, too. He had all the reason in the world to be happy: cyndaquil was finally learning how to use fire moves, he beat Whitney relatively easily. It almost felt like there was an emptiness inside of him.

As they continued walking in near silence, they eventually arrived at what seemed to be not just one tree, but a long series of them. They were all short, stubby brown trees with little green spheres that looked like leaves. For trees, they looked rather peculiar.

"So…is this what those women were talking about, Niko?" JJ asked, curiously poking at one of them. Before Niko could answer, JJ was swatted in the cheek by one of the trees. He fell backwards, a large purple bruise appearing in place of the green "leaf" from the weird tree.

"What the hell…is that…?" Niko whipped out his pokédex, hoping for answers. Luckily, he got one:

" _Sudowoodo, the imitation pokémon. Rock type. It disguises itself as a tree to avoid attack. It hates water, so it will disappear if it starts raining_."

"So these are _all_ sudowoodo?" Fay piped in as he was sitting down, helping JJ recover from the nasty blow he took.

As he said this, the sudowoodo revealed their faces and turned to the group, looking positively terrifying. Some of them rushed forward, swinging their heavy branches. The four trainers scrambled out of their way, trying to escape without looking like JJ had. They eventually lost the rampaging sudowoodo, who either had given up out of exhaustion or realized that four trainers just weren't worth it.

"So…do we try and go around them? They're kind of blocking the only path through…" Niko said, panting. Despite having travelled so much, he was definitely not used to running, much like he was in the Ilex Forest.

"Yeah, we probably could, actually," Fay responded, frowning slightly, but thinking nonetheless. "We could just go through the trees. But there must be a reason why they're blocking the path."

"They could be controlled by someone?" Brittany suggested.

"It's possible, but they would have attacked sooner. And we would have probably heard about it sooner, from the police blaring by in their cars and motorcycles. No, there has to be something else going on…"

"The pokédex said they don't like water…maybe if we get them wet they'll leave?" Niko said, scratching his chin as if also deep in thought.

"Problem is, what if they attack us then?" JJ replied nervously. He was quietly nursing his bruised cheek. "I'd rather not deal with them again. They hurt…like, a lot…"

"We could give it a try and hope to make enough of them faint to scare the rest off. Brittany, you and I can go. Niko, can we borrow totodile? I don't want JJ to be going back in there, and I'd kind of like someone to watch him."

"Err…sure thing, Fay. Totodile, come on out!" Niko commanded, summoning his water type. "Fay and Brittany are going to deal with some rock type pokémon. Think you can help them out with your water gun?"

"Toto!" Totodile cried out, jumping up and down cheerfully. Niko nodded, patting his pokémon on the head, and gave Fay and Brittany the A-Okay to use his pokémon.

Brittany and Fay re-approached the wall of sudowoodo, who seemed to be back in formation and unmoving. Brittany hesitated for a moment, as if unsure about trying to provoke the sudowoodo again. She summoned wartortle and commanded it to use water gun at the same time Fay commanded totodile to do the same. Each pokémon sprayed water from one end of the wall and gradually moved their streams of water towards one another.

This did not produce the desired result, as the sudowoodo then ran towards them, arms swinging. Brittany then sent out tangela to use vine whip, and told wartortle to keep up with the water gun one those that continued to rush towards them.

Meanwhile, Fay commanded cyndaquil to use smokescreen to blind them while totodile used water gun, not particularly caring where it was aiming as long as it was hitting a sudowoodo. After a minute of the smoke clearing up, the sudowoodo seemed exhausted, except for one who was still standing. This one was, Fay presumed, to be the leader. The other sudowoodo backed away as the leader, who was only a few inches taller and slightly larger, beamed angrily at Fay.

"Alright sudowoodo, why are you blocking our path? You're making it difficult for people to travel in and out of Goldenrod City."

The sudowoodo pointed over to the trees angrily, as if trying to say "well, they can walk through there instead!"

"That's what I said"—much to sudowoodo's surprised—"but not everyone feels that way. I think we would both appreciate it if you and your buddies went somewhere else to stand. We can all share this environment together without having to fight."

It was clear that the sudowoodo wanted to fight. It indicated so when its arms began to sparkle a little before it opened its mouth and used water gun on totodile, knocking it backwards.

"Wait…what?! It can learn water gun? A rock type?" Sudowoodo then shook its head, pointing to totodile. It then used water gun again, much to the big jaw pokémon's displeasure. "Wait…was that mimic?" Sudowoodo nodded.

"What's mimic?" Brittany asked.

"It's a move that basically just copies one of its opponent's moves for the rest of the battle. In this case, it got totodile's water gun," Fay then looked at sudowoodo. "So…you wanna fight, then?"

Sudowoodo nodded, holding up its branches like it was a boxer.

"Totodile, if you sit this one out, I'd appreciate it. If I'm battling this sudowoodo, then I'm just gonna try and catch it. Maybe the rest will move then. And I don't think I should be using Niko's pokémon to catch my own. Cyndaquil!" Fay cried out. "Use ember!"

The fire mouse unleashed a series of small fire balls at the sudowoodo, who deflected them easily with its branches. Fay figured that, as a rock type, it shouldn't have any difficulty with a fire type. But he decided to stick with cyndaquil, whom he trusted.

"Smokescreen, now!" Fay said as he continued to think, using the smoke to give himself more time. Sudowoodo didn't agree with this, and rushed in what it assumed to be a forward direction, slamming into cyndaquil and punting the fire mouse with low kick. Cyndaquil crashed into the ground, having fainted. "Are you kidding…damn. Mareep, let's go! Thunderwave, now!"

The wool pokémon exited the pokéball, belted out a loud "baaa" and charged up electricity in its wool to unleash in every direction, stunning the imitation pokémon. Fay and mareep then followed up with a thundershock and tackle, which knocked the sudowoodo over.

It was at this point that the other sudowoodo, who had surrounded Brittany, Fay, and their pokémon, looked in shock at their leader, whom had never been knocked over. However, the leader sudowoodo got back up, albeit slowly, and produced a rock from thin air and tossed it at mareep. The electric type dodged and used thundershock again, landing the attack successfully. The sudowoodo seemed to be weakened enough for Fay to attempt to capture it.

"Pokéball, let's go!" Fay yelled, throwing out a red and white ball at the imitation pokémon, who immediately went inside with a small burst of red light. The pokéball fell to the ground, wiggling a few times before opening back up. "Dammit! Mareep, use thunderwave again!" Fay shouted out. Mareep did as was told, and Fay threw yet another pokéball.

This time sudowoodo stayed in much longer and, since it was paralyzed, found it difficult to leave the ball. It clicked quietly, and Fay had caught a sudowoodo.

He went and picked up the pokéball, immediately summoning the imitation pokémon. "Now, we're a team now. You're strong—and I like strong pokémon. But I also want to be your friend, you see. Now, can you persuade your friends to leave this path?"

Sudowoodo looked up at its new trainer, not seeming too happy with being caught. Nevertheless, it turned to its friends and began talking to them, almost passionately, about leaving (or, so Fay had assumed). Turns out, moments later the other sudowoodo had left.

Fay let out a heavy sigh. "Let's go find the others. And get back to a pokémon center. I need to heal up cyndaquil and sudowoodo…"

They eventually found Niko and JJ sitting under a tree, JJ reciting to Niko what he had told Fay earlier about Maizie. The brown-haired trainer seemed only half interested, as he was watching hoothoot and magnemite flying around in the air. They both saw Fay and Brittany with sudowoodo at their side. JJ flinched aggressively at the sight.

"Don't worry, JJ, this sudowoodo is with us now. I just caught their leader."

"Oh wow!" Niko said, looking surprised. "Congrats, man, that's pretty incredible."

"Guess so. Needed two pokémon to catch it. I'd like to go back to the pokémon center in Goldenrod, if you don't mind."

"Oh, no worries Fay. I'd like to get my cheek checked out, actually," JJ said, still caressing the purple spot. "Plus, it's not like we're in much of a hurry to get to Ecruteak. It'll take a while anyways."

The group then proceeded back into Goldenrod, feeling exhausted from the day. They decided to stay the night in the city, electing to start their journey to Ecruteak City fresh in the morning.


	17. Episode 17: JJ's buggin' out!

**Episode 17: JJ's buggin' out!**

The road to Ecruteak City was a rather long one. This is largely due to the city being in northern Johto. The journey—JJ estimated—would take roughly under two weeks. So while they were in Goldenrod City, the four trainers packed up on supplies to last them as long.

The days following their second—and far more successful—departure from Goldenrod City were rather lackluster. Niko and Fay spent most of the time training in preparation for their battle with Morty. JJ was trying to start training his chikorita, particularly getting it to learn razor leaf, which proved to be far more difficult than he had imagined. Meanwhile, Brittany was taking care of her yellow and black egg. She had been carefully carrying it around in her arms everywhere they went, finding herself constantly looking at the ground so as to avoid tripping. She nearly did so once (while she was looking at the ground) when sudowoodo tried to trip her as a prank. Fay, who wasn't pleased, made sudowoodo train even harder than his other pokémon during their next session, and got a smaller portion of food than the rest.

After a few days of walking, they began to notice a building on the horizon. Arriving at it, JJ read out loud the sign on one of the double doors in front.

"National Park's bug tournament! Every Thursday afternoon. All trainers welcome to participate."

"Hey, today's Thursday…I think…" Niko said, pausing to think for a moment. When travelling, he found it sometimes difficult to keep track of the days of the week. Fay and Brittany nodded, indicating that he was indeed correct. "Well, JJ, let's go see what this is about."

They walked inside, only to find large groups of bug catchers socializing. "Wow…what a bunch of nerds…" Fay said jokingly, eliciting a laugh from Niko and JJ.

JJ approached what he assumed to be the front desk and was greeted with a rather quirky-sounding greeting. "Hey, what's uh up? My name's JJ, and I'm interested in this bug tournament you've got going on."

"Hey hey no worries, man!" the teenage boy said as he shuffled through some papers, handing one of them to JJ, "so today's the weekly bug tournament here in National Park, have you ever heard of it?" JJ shook his head. "Oh, no worries, man! So it's basically just where a bunch of bug catchers gather to battle and stuff. Just a fun little thing we all like to do weekly. You interested in joining?"

"Yeah, sure why not. Can my friends join, too?"

"Oh yeah brutha, no problem! Only requirement is that you use a bug pokémon!"

"Oh…" JJ said, dismayed a little. "Well, I'm the only one here who has a bug type. Guess I'll be registering…" he then took a pen from the boy and signed up, turning to his friends when he was done. "Sorry, guys, I had no idea."

"Neither did we, JJ, don't sweat it. Just do your best!" Fay said encouragingly.

Niko nodded in agreement. "Yeah…I, err—wouldn't want to enter a-anyways…"

"Why is that, Niko?" JJ inquired.

"Oh, no reason. Other than the fact that I don't like bugs much," he said, shivering a little as he saw a little spider-like pokémon scuttling by next to a bug catcher.

JJ mouthed an "oh" before touring the small facility. Turns out it was more than just a registration station for this tournament—it seemed to be more of a recreational center that focused primarily on bug type pokémon. He walked around in an attempt to socialize with the bug catchers while Niko, Fay, and Brittany watched. After a while, JJ gave up when he realized no one seemed interested in getting to know him.

"Eh, whatever. It's not like I can really make many friends, anyways," he muttered.

"Well, that's not true, JJ," Brittany said, completely aware of the reasoning behind his statement. "Is this about Maizie?"

"Kind of is. I don't know…anyways, I think the tournament is about to start!"

He walked outside into the National Park—which was absolutely stunning in the midafternoon sunlight—and joined with his fellow competitors as they listened to the instructions.

"Welcome one and all to the weekly National Park bug tournament!" a young woman with frilly brown hair said. "I'm your host, Nelly, and today it looks like we seem to have quite the crowd, am I right!?" the crowd, which seemed to be moderately large, cheered. "We have 8 competitors here today, and only two of them will walk away with a grand prize—second place gets a T-Shirt and a sun stone, and our first place competitor gets a rare metal coat, used for evolving one of our club's personal favorite bug types—scyther!"

"Really now?" Fay muttered quietly, thinking of Elliot, and wondering if he had access to a metal coat.

"Now, if you will, please give us our first two competitors a warm welcome: Hilary and Jones!"

Niko, Fay, and Brittany sat at the top of some wooden stands as they watched the two young trainers—both presumably bug catchers, judging by their pokémon and the nets they had thrown to the side—battle it out; weedle vs. kakuna. The battle seemed to go on for some time before the kakuna ultimately tired out the weedle. The next battle was between a venonat and a small ladybug pokémon that Niko didn't seem to recognize. He pulled out his pokédex to figure it out:

" _Ledyba, the five star pokémon. Bug and flying type. It is timid and clusters together with others. The fluid secreted by its feet indicates its location_."

This ledyba seemed to come out on top. JJ was up next, using his beedrill against what also seemed to be an unfamiliar spider-like pokémon. Niko kept his pokédex out:

" _Ariados, the long leg pokémon. Bug and poison type. Rather than making a nest in one specific spot, it wanders in search of food after darkness falls_ ," Niko shivered at the thought.

"Beedrill! Use pin missile!" JJ commanded, only to be met with a poison sting. The two attacks collided spectacularly. However, this ariados was not to be messed with. JJ's opponent—a boy named Justin—commanded his spider-like pokémon to use screech, which caused beedrill to crash into the ground. They then followed up with poison sting, which would have landed had it not been for beedrill kicking dust into the air to weaken the attack. "Nice job, beedrill! Now, rush forward and use pin missile at close range!"

Beedrill did as it was told and attacked ariados, who responded with a poison sting. The two attacks once again collided, this time causing both pokémon to launch in opposite directions as a result of the force of the moves. The two pokémon kept at it for some time, until Justin and ariados found difficulty in trying to catch beedrill in the air. The poison bee pokémon shot down into the ground, stabbing ariados at an incredible speed, and knocking out the long leg pokémon.

"Ariados in unable to battle, beedrill wins! The victory goes to JJ!"

JJ smiled as he and beedrill walked back to the front row of the stands where the other competitors were sitting. They watched the last match of the round—one between a parasect and a scyther. The scyther—being able to use wing attack—quickly overwhelmed the parasect.

Nelly then congratulated those who proceeded to the quarterfinals before announcing the two matches that would take place. JJ was to go second against some kid named Arnie. But before that, they got to watch a battle between two kids, one with a heracross and the other with a butterfree. Unaware of what a heracross was, Niko once again pulled out his pokédex:

" _Heracross, the single horn pokémon. Bug and fighting type. With its herculean powers, it can easily throw around an object that is 100 times its own weight_."

Just as Niko was reading the data on heracross, a large red and green face appeared right in front of him.

" _OHMYGODWHATISTHAT!?_ " Niko screamed out, nearly falling backwards and off of the stands. Brittany and Fay caught him, but certainly not before the pokédex began giving information on this new creature:

" _Yanma, the clear wing pokémon. Bug and flying type. It can see in all directions without moving its big eyes, helping it spot attackers and food right away_."

"Oh my god…" Niko panted, trying to get back into a normal breathing rhythm. "You scared the hell out of me, you know that!?"

The yanma, looking particularly stunned by Niko's hurt reaction, head-butted him in the stomach and flew off quickly.

"Ouch…" Niko said, still out of breath. "What's going on…?"

"No clue, dude. Anyways, the heracross seems to have won. JJ's up now."

Fay was right. JJ was up against Arnie, who was using a venomoth against JJ's beedrill. The battle commenced with JJ commanding a pin missile to counter venomoth's psybeam. Like before with ariados, the attacks collided, and gave beedrill an opening to launch itself at venomoth, slamming it into the ground. As it did so, venomoth seemed to glow acid-green as beedrill yelped out in pain. It seemed that the poison bee's health was being sapped from an attack Arnie called "leech life."

"Beedrill! Can you get up?" JJ asked. The poison bee nodded as it struggled to get back into the air, albeit successfully. It then rose high up and unleashed a stream of poison stings towards its opponent, who blew them away with a gust attack. The gush of wind proceeded towards beedrill, spinning it around in circles until it tossed the bee higher into the air and, subsequently, crashing into the ground. "Beedrill? Beedrill!" JJ said, "Come on buddy, you can do this! You can win this!"

The bug type opened its eyes and rose back into the air, as if suddenly fired up. It then rushed towards the venomoth at a speed JJ had not previously seen, and started jabbing the poison moth with its stingers as lightning speed, completely subduing its opponent, who fell backwards into the ground, but not yet defeated. It also rose back up and used another psybeam. Beedrill agilely dodged it and continued its furious assault on venomoth, this time subduing it.

"Venomoth is unable to battle, beedrill wins! The victory goes to JJ!" the judge cried out.

"Beedrill! You did it! You learned a new move! Err…what was it?"

"That was fury attack," Arnie said, walking over. He shook JJ's hand and congratulated him and beedrill on the victory. "That was an intense battle, thanks for that! Hope to see you around again!"

"Maybe so…I'm traveling a lot, so we'll have to see. But thanks for the battle! That venomoth is tough…phew…" JJ said as he returned beedrill to rest while awaiting the announcement of the final round. Here, he would be facing the trainer with the heracross. After seeing it quickly defeat butterfree, he was slightly nervous, but he tried to not let it get to him.

Nelly then got back up from the stands to announce the final round. "This final match will be between the winners of the previous round—JJ and David! If they will take their spots on the battlefield, we can begin!"

JJ looked over at David. He didn't seem to be an ordinary bug catcher. No, he was definitely a traveling trainer like Niko, Fay, and Brittany were. At least, based on his looks he was.

"Heracross, you're up!" he commanded as JJ summoned beedrill.

"Beedrill, use fury attack!" JJ cried out, impatient as to when he should fight close range. He knew that was heracross' specialty, but evidently it was also beedrill's.

"Heracross, wait for it and use counter!" David said plainly. As beedrill stabbing heracross continuously with its stingers, the singlehorn pokémon bided its time. When beedrill was done, heracross rammed into beedrill with the force that beedrill had used, and then some. The bee pokémon shot backwards, nearly colliding with JJ, who had to dive out of the way. Beedrill wasn't going to give up, however, and quickly got back into the air.

"Beedrill, use poison sting!"

"Heracross, dodge it and take down!" David commanded. Heracross avoided the poison stings as it leapt high into the air and grabbed onto beedrill, ramming it into the ground. "Now finish it off with megahorn!"

Heracross' long purple horn began to glow as it slammed it into beedrill's torso with enough force to crack the ground under them. This was more than enough to defeat the poison bee pokémon.

"Beedrill is unable to battle, heracross wins. The victory goes to David!" Nelly cried out, rushing over to congratulate him. He graciously took the metal coat, thanking her, waving to the crowd, and walking over to shake JJ's hand.

The curly blonde returned the gesture, smiling but still holding beedrill. David then walked away into the sunset.

"You did great, beedrill," JJ said, smiling weakly. "I'm very proud of you!" Beedrill returned what looked like a smile, pressing its stinger on JJ's shoulder. He then returned beedrill and stood up to face Nelly, who had a t-shirt and sun stone for him.

"And you did great, too, JJ," Nelly said with a smile. "I hope to see you again. That beedrill is pretty good. Keep it up!"

As she walked away, Niko, Fay, and Brittany joined with JJ, all congratulating him on his performance. They all believed that he needed this, particularly Niko and Fay. Knowing fully well that this was the first official battle he has had in a long time, they were both standing proud of their friend. They briefly used the healing station in the National Park facility before heading off to Ecruteak City.


	18. Episode 18: Hatching new rivals!

**Episode 18: Hatching new rivals!**

In the days following the National Park bug tournament, the group continued their trek towards Ecruteak City. They consisted of largely the same routine—wake up, train, eat, walk, train, eat lunch, walk, train, eat dinner, sleep. The only difference was JJ was taking a larger role in assisting Niko and Fay with their training.

After the tournament JJ realized that even though he wasn't challenging gyms, he could still be a strong trainer. And so he took it upon himself to become, in some senses, a punching bag for his friends. Often he would train his pokémon alongside theirs, and they would all partake in practice battles. Occasionally Brittany would join in, and she could sense her tangela and wartortle getting much stronger as well.

However, one day the group was sitting down, having lunch after some quick exercises when they noticed two guys walking down the path past them. Fay looked over to get a quick glance of them and, oddly enough, recognized them.

"Woah! Hey! Jacob! Cody!" Fay said, waving his hands and yelling over to the two young boys, both of whom looked to be a similar age to him, Niko, and JJ. They both turned to Fay.

"Fay? Hey man, what's up!?" He ran up and slapped Fay on the shoulder.

"Not much Jacob. Just traveling with some of my friends from Pallet. How're you?"

"Oh really? Same here! Cody and I are challenging gyms, actually!"

The character was proved to be Jacob was about as tall as Fay (which was a few inches short of six feet tall), had jet-black hair like Fay as well as dressed similarly (t-shirt with a sleeveless vest and jeans). The only major difference was that Jacob had a black mustache. Cody, the other friend of Fay's, was of a slightly larger build, but also had black hair (albeit shorter) and wore jeans with a black sweatshirt. He also bore a pair of glasses.

"No way! Niko and I are, too. You've met Niko…right?" Fay said as his friends came out to join him. Jacob and Cody seemed to shake their heads. "Well, anyways, this is Niko. He and I are challenging the gyms here in Johto as well. This is JJ, he's aiming to be a pokémon breeder. And lastly, this is Brittany. She joined us when we were in Kanto. She's also thinking of being a breeder as well."

"Nice to meet you all!" Jacob said cheerfully.

"Sup guys," Cody said curtly with a smile. He was playing around with what looked like a small tablet.

"Anyways, I'm Jacob, and this is Cody. We knew Fay back in our childhood. Funny you should mention you're doing the gym challenge, actually. It was you who got us interested in trying it out!"

"Really?" Fay said, taken slightly aback.

"Yeah. We saw you and Niko at the Indigo League last spring. You did really well, actually! The way your charizard fought tyranitar…it was awesome! So Cody and I decided to try it ourselves here in Johto."

"That's so cool. Say, you guys want to join us for lunch? We were just in the middle of it."

"Uhh…what do you say, Cody?"

"I'm not too hungry, but I'd be down to hang out for a bit if you want," Cody replied, looking up from his tablet and pressing his glasses in slightly.

The now extended group sat down and Fay caught up with his friends, regaling them in his adventures in Kanto and now in Johto. It also gave Niko, JJ, and Brittany to further introduce themselves and get to know a bit more about Cody and Jacob. Turns out they were childhood friends with Fay, but they went to different schools later on, which is how they became rather disconnected by the time Fay set off with Niko and JJ.

Niko was finding some similarities with Jacob. They both found interest in similar sitcoms and, oddly enough, pokémon as well. Jacob seemed to prefer using flying types, which had always fascinated Niko. Meanwhile, Cody and Fay were catching up on their mutual interests. Cody came from a family of mechanics, and was interested in technologies, albeit not the same ones as Fay, but they still found engaging discussion regardless.

"Hey, Jacob, would you be interested in battling?" Niko asked.

"Oh, sure man, let's do it! Two on two?" Jacob asked, now looking excited. Niko nodded, and the two got up and separated themselves by several yards before summoning their first pokémon.

"Totodile, you're up!" Niko cried out.

"Skarmory, let's go!" Jacob commanded. Unfamiliar, Niko pulled out his pokédex:

" _Skarmory, the armor bird pokémon. Steel and flying type. The feathers that it sheds are very sharp. It is said that people once used the feathers as swords_."

"Hmm…alright, then. Totodile, use water gun!"

"Skarmory, swift!" Jacob called out. The two attacks collided. Skarmory then swooped down and tried to peck at totodile, who responded by leaping into the air and landing on the armor bird's back, using water gun repeatedly in hopes of weighing down the steel type. It didn't seem to succeed, and skarmory was successful in shaking off its opponent.

…or so it thought. Totodile, as it was shaken off, actually bit onto skarmory's leg, and refused to let go.

"Heh, alright then, Niko, I see what you're playing at. Skarmory, use agility!"

"Totodile, hold on as best you can, alright?" Niko cried out. Totodile nodded—or tried to, at least—as its opponent was speeding up rapidly. Skarmory went in circles, took sharp dives towards the ground; it did whatever it could to get the big jaw pokémon off of it. Eventually, it slammed itself into the ground, totodile hitting the grass field first and collapsing. As skarmory was rising back into the air, totodile unleashed a powerful gush of water that landed successfully, but didn't seem to phase skarmory much at all.

"Skarmory, use swift!" Jacob commanded. The armor bird pokémon—not nearly as exhausted as the much smaller totodile—flapped its wings, releasing a series of golden stars at its opponent, effectively defeating it.

"Totodile, return. You did great. Magnemite, you're up!"

"Heh, alright then. We can handle this. Skarmory, use sand attack!"

"Magnemite, use thunderwave! Quickly!" Niko called out. It seems that the sand attack was ineffective, as magnemite closed its eyes and released a wave of electricity that was sent in every direction, stunning the unsuspecting skarmory. "Now, follow up with thundershock!"

Magnemite put a quick end to the armor bird pokémon who, now wet after a series of water guns, took extra damage and was quickly defeated.

"Gah, skarmory, return. Nice trick there, Niko. Using totodile's water to then do more damage with thundershock."

"That actually wasn't intentional. I just those two moves in succession anyways…heh…" Niko said, albeit a little nervously. Jacob laughed in return. He seemed to be enjoying this a lot.

"Either way, nice job. But I think I've got you beat here. Cubone, you're up!" Jacob said. Niko sighed loudly—magnemite actually couldn't beat a cubone. But they could try. "Use bone club!"

"Magnemite, dodge the bone and just go in for a tackle! It's really all we can do right now…" Niko said, suddenly a little nervous. The magnet pokémon was able to evade cubone's ground type move and slammed into it. However, cubone still had its bone in its hand, and was able to whack magnemite with it while the two were in close contact. Magnemite buzzed out loud, clearly taking damage from the attack. Cubone repeatedly used this move and, as magnemite tried to withdraw, the lonely pokémon used headbutt to finish its opponent off.

"Magnemite, you gave it your best, and that's all I ask for. Good job. And nice match, Jacob! You've got some tough pokémon for sure."

"Thanks man, we're trying. Say, how many badges do you guys have?"

"Three. We're heading to Ecruteak City to get our fourth. You?"

"Only two right now. Cody and I are heading for Goldenrod City. And a word of advice—Morty's ghost types are immune to normal moves."

"Oh, yeah I knew that. And a hint for Whitney: her miltank's rollout is killer. You're gonna want to save that skarmory of yours for it."

"Thanks for the help. I'll keep that in mind."

Meanwhile, Cody had challenged Fay to a match after seeing Niko and Jacob have so much fun with theirs. The two took the same spots as their travelling companions, and agreed to a one-on-one battle this time, instead of two-on-two. Cody was the first to send out his pokémon.

"Phanpy, I choose you!"

"Teddiursa, you're up!" Fay cried out. "Let's start off with a scratch attack!"

"Phanpy, dodge and use take down!" Cody cried out. The elephant pokémon moved to the side of the little bear and then slammed into teddiursa's side, taking damage of its own in the process. The two pokémon quickly recovered and exchanged attacks: tackle or scratch, take down for…lick…etc.

Eventually, phanpy grew pretty tired. While teddiursa was wailing on phanpy, the latter was curling up into a ball, evidently using defense curl to protect itself. The scratches seemed to do less damage.

"Alright phanpy, let's finish teddiursa off! Use take down!"

Phanpy slammed into teddiursa, but both it and Cody forgot that take down keeps doing damage to the user. Phanpy ended up fainting immediately after teddiursa, resulting in a tie.

"Awww dammit! Return, phanpy. Fay, wanna go another round?"

"Heh, maybe another time, Cody. My pokémon are a little tired from the training we did earlier. But I promise—next time we'll have a better battle, and I'll be sure to win it!"

"Not a chance!" Cody said, pleased with the newfound challenge.

* * *

After some more conversation, Cody and Jacob decided to head off towards Goldenrod City while it was still light out. The group agreed, also needing to get some more miles in before settling down again.

"It was great meeting both of you!" Brittany said, waving farewell to Fay's old friends. They waved back as their figures slowly got smaller with distance.

"Looks like we got some new rivals, eh Fay?" Niko said happily.

"Guess so. They said they're going to Goldenrod next?" Niko nodded. "Did you warn them about miltank?" Niko nodded once again. "Good. I think Cody can win it, as long as his phanpy doesn't faint in the process."

"Jacob definitely can win it. His skarmory will annoy Whitney to no end, especially with that swift attack. Geez…"

As they were talking, they heard a quick yelp from behind them. Turning around, they saw Brittany standing completely still, JJ next to her in an equal state of shock.

Her egg was hatching.

The glowing egg slowly turned into a more corporeal form. As it stopped glowing, it took the shape of a small yellow and black mouse with large ears and red circles on its cheeks. On one of its ears its hair is spiked up in three spots. Niko pulled out his pokédex:

" _Pichu, the tiny mouse pokémon. It is unskilled at storing electric power. Any kind of shock causes it to discharge energy spontaneously_."

"Must be pikachu's baby form," JJ noted, petting the pichu's little spiky ear. "Brittany, congratulations. You just hatched an egg!"

"I did! It's so cute! Hello, pichu! My name is Brittany, and I'm your trainer!" She said, cradling the tiny mouse and tickling its stomach. The pichu giggled a little, flailing its arms and legs happily. She then grabbed a pokéball from her bag and pressed it lightly on pichu's forehead. The pokémon went into the pokéball, wiggled a few times, and ultimately clicked. She then re-released pichu, opting to carry it with her on their journey.


	19. Episode 19: Niko's theory of sonicboom

**Episode 19: Niko's theory of sonicboom**

The journey to Ecruteak City seemed to be taking a little longer than the group had originally expected. This is partly due to the trainers getting involved in events rather spontaneously (such as the bug tournament) or getting lost, which seemed to be the norm these days with them. Other days they would spend some extra time training, or sleep in an extra half hour due to exhaustion from walking as much as they did.

Training seemed to go rather well. Niko was trying to get magnemite to learn sonicboom. After his battle with Jacob, in which he used magnemite against his new rival's cubone, Niko realized that magnemite couldn't actually use any moves, and the battle was practically unwinnable. This led him to search for new moves to teach magnemite in the event that this happens again. And sonicboom seemed to be a natural starting point, as he had seen it used by a magneton back in Kanto. However, figuring it out seemed to be more difficult, as he didn't really know how to teach it.

On the other hand, Fay was making headway in getting sudowoodo to be more respectful of his authority as a trainer. Fay realized that sudowoodo enjoyed beating things up, whether a tree or another pokémon, and used this to his advantage. He was also getting cyndaquil to start learning flame wheel. Here, he had JJ's growlithe act as a coach, and the puppy pokémon agreed enthusiastically. As for teddiursa and mareep? Well, they were more focused on honing their moves and getting faster, as were the other two.

Brittany was getting more used to having pichu around. She was carefully watching how JJ acted around his chikorita, who was struggling to learn razor leaf, and took mental notes on how she should raise her tiny mouse pokémon. Pichu seemed to be a wonderful addition to the team, as it enjoyed playing and running around with the more matured pokémon, who equally enjoyed having the pichu running with it.

"Agh! Alright, magnemite…" Niko said, exasperated, "let's try this again. Remember what I said about sonicboom."

Magnemite closed its eye and tried to conjure up the energy to generate a sonicboom. Niko did some brief research on it while they took refuge in a village pokémon center during a heavy storm the day previous, and tried to understand how magnemite could learn this move. He found it to be rather difficult, and would certainly require more training than he had expected.

For magnemite to use sonicboom, it needed to generate enough energy to send the sound wave at its opponent. Niko—with the help of the more scientifically minded Fay—figured that if magnemite spins in place fast enough, it could unleash the sonicboom rather easily. So Niko practiced that with magnemite (he even attempted spinning in place at first but, being the type of person who gets severely motion sick, did not have an easy time with this) with pretty dismal results.

In this particular training, magnemite began spinning once again, generating sparks of electricity as if it were using thundershock or thunderwave. However, as Niko had instructed, magnemite had to convert that into sound, and that would require it to vibrate its little magnet-arms to create sound. The sound and electricity—according to Niko's theory—would create the sonicboom. Ultimately, magnemite failed, and instead unleashed an electric tornado that dissipated relatively quickly.

"Dammit…" Niko said, throwing one of his hands through his messy brown hair. "Alright magnemite, we'll try again later. I need a break, and I'm sure you do, too."

Magnemite was not ready to give up, and while Niko was sitting on the grass drinking from his water bottle, magnemite was still out there, spinning (although not vibrating its magnets quite yet). Niko figured that it was taking this move in parts, which was a smart idea, and not one Niko would have immediately considered. A while later, Fay returned with his team of pokémon.

"How'd it go?" Niko asked.

"Well, sudowoodo's low kick certainly works. It's pretty effective, since cyndaquil accidentally ran into it and was lobbed into a tree twenty feet away."

"Oh my god…cyndaquil, are you alright?" Niko answered, looking rather worried. Cyndaquil rubbed its head nervously, yet still smiling as if nothing wrong had happened. "Well, at least you're feeling okay. That's what matters."

"Guess so…its flame wheel is getting…better, kinda."

"What'd you mean by 'kinda'?" Niko wondered.

"Well, it's running fast enough—as fast as growlithe—but it isn't producing fire. That's the problem."

"Hmm…I'd talk with JJ about that then. Remember how he taught growlithe flame wheel?" Fay nodded, and walked over to converse with his friend, who was busy getting lunch ready.

During lunch, the group sat silently. On every long journey, a group gets to the point where they run thin on things to talk about. Eventually, Brittany asked Fay about some of the things he used to do with Jacob and Cody.

"Oh, heh…wow…" Fay said, looking up at the sky. "Well, once we stole car and started driving it around town. We had to have been, say…8 or 9?"

"Really? How'd you manage that?" JJ asked curiously.

"Cody was raised by mechanics. It wasn't difficult to find a car and for Cody to turn it on. Driving isn't difficult, really. Problem was…I was too short to drive. So Cody, who was the tallest at the time, took the wheel."

"Where'd you guys go?"

"Not very far, as a matter of fact. Didn't have a lot of gas. We made it to Viridian City, and that was it. Of course we also got caught…we needed to get the car back regardless. Cody got in some trouble, but I heard Jacob got it bad. I, well, my parents were pretty pissed, but weren't nearly as harsh as Jacob's were."

"Wow…Fay, that's incredible!" Niko said, shaking his head and laughing. The group continued sharing stories of their childhoods for about an hour, way past finishing their lunch, before they realized they needed to head off.

As Niko was finished cleaning his plate in a nearby pond, he looked up and screamed into two large blue eyes covered by a green mask.

"OHMYGODWHATISTHAT!?" He yelled out loud, falling backwards in fright. His friends turned, saw what happened, and laughed, particularly Fay and Brittany. They had seen this before.

"Oh, Niko…" Brittany said, walking over and helping her friend up, "you don't remember this yanma? It got you when we were in National Park."

Niko got up, patted his brown hair, and frowned at the yanma, who was buzzing with a curious look on its face.

"Yeah, I remember it. Why're you here? National Park is a several day trip from here."

"It might like you," Fay said as he was putting some leftover food in his bag.

"Well, I don't like bugs. Never have," Niko said, turning his back on yanma and walking away. This would have worked, had yanma _not_ followed Niko. The clear wing pokémon went unnoticed for a solid minute before Niko turned around, realized he was being followed, and tried shooing the yanma away. "Please go! You're freaking me out!"

"Niko…you don't need to be so rude…" Brittany responded, giving her friend an unusually ugly look. "Maybe it wants to join you, for whatever—oh no!"

Niko had been thrown off of his feet and tossed a solid twenty or thirty feet away, landing at the base of a small hill. Fay, JJ, and Brittany ran over, as did yanma, who flew.

"What the hell was that…?" Niko said, caressing his bruised head. "Was that you, yanma?" The clear wing pokémon nodded, now grimacing at Niko. It clearly did not like how he was treating it. "Well, are you trying to pick a fight with me or something?"

Yanma then generated a powerful wave of sound from its mouth and shot it directly at Niko, causing him to slide _up_ the hill and high over it, landing on the other side. As he was again rubbing his head, he looked up at yanma atop the hill, and realized something.

"You know sonicboom, don't you?"

Yanma nodded.

"Well then, can you teach me?"

Yanma just stared at him. This frustrated Niko a little.

"Alright then, let's fight then. Show me what you've got! Magnemite, I choose you!" Niko said, quickly pulling out a pokéball and summoning his trusty electric type. "Use thunderwave!"

Before magnemite could act, yanma had conjured yet another sonicboom and sent it hurdling towards the magnet pokémon, causing it to crash directly into the ground at Niko's feet.

"Magnemite, it's fast. Try using thunderwave again!"

This also didn't work, as yanma then used what looked like quick attack, tackling magnemite and disappearing just as quickly, only to follow up with a sonicboom. Magnemite saw this coming and quickly evaded the move, and proceeding to use thundershock instead, realizing that it needed to start doing damage to yanma. The clear wing took the attack, clearly not expecting to, but responded with a double team. Niko looked at the dozen copies of yanma that were surrounding magnemite.

"Thunderwave!" Niko cried out. The yanmas all attacked with sonicboom, but it was repelled by thunderwave, which paralyzed all of them. "Now, thundershock in every direction!" Magnemite again responded, spinning around and releasing electric sparks in every possible direction, ultimately hitting the stunned yanma, which fell to the ground, exhausted. "Bet you haven't fought this hard before, yanma! Magnemite, finish it off with thundershock!"

Magnemite unleashed the thundershock, ultimately defeating yanma. As Niko began walking over the hill, he stopped to look down at yanma. It looked seriously injured and, despite how much Niko disliked bug types, he felt bad for what he had done.

"Magnemite, return," he said as he got on his knees, picked up yanma, and carried it over to the campsite. He quickly realized how heavy yanma was—for him, at least—and looked around for anything in Fay's bag and his own that might heal up yanma.

"Sorry, Niko, we're fresh out of everything I think," Fay had said as he saw his friend frantically searching for healing materials.

"We're only a couple hours away from Ecruteak City, if you want to head there, we can," JJ piped in as he threw his backpack on.

"Can any of us carry yanma, though?" Niko said, exhausted from just carrying the clear wing pokémon down a hill. Brittany and JJ nodded. Fay also nodded, but Niko knew he was lying. It was clear they all were thinking the same thing of Niko—he should catch yanma, because the bug pokémon, for whatever reason, wanted to help him.

Niko sighed, and tried waking up yanma. The pokémon opened its eyes and looked up at Niko.

"Look, I have no idea why you want to join my team. I am scared of bug types and don't want to own one. But if that's what you want, then I'm sure I can give it a try," he pulled out a spare pokéball, "do you want to join my team?"

Yanma, still lying on the ground, nodded eagerly, but still exhausted. Niko sighed, and pressed the center of the pokéball on yanma's forehead. With a flash of red light, yanma went into the pokéball, fell to the ground, and wiggled for a few seconds before clicking quietly. Niko picked up the pokéball, choosing not to summon the very exhausted yanma.

"Well guys, you got me. I caught the yanma."

"Yeah, we really wanted you to," Fay said, chuckling a little.

"Why would you do that?"

"So you'd get over your fear of bugs."

Niko smirked a little. "Thanks…I guess…" he hauled his backpack over his shoulders and, still very exhausted from being thrown around by two consecutive sonicbooms, marched on with his friends towards Ecruteak City, which was only a few hours away. Their next gym battle was quickly approaching.


	20. Episode 20: The two towers

**Author's note: Just a heads up, I relied on bulbapedia extensively for the retelling of the legends in Ecruteak City, so all of the credit in that story goes to bulbapedia. Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Episode 20: The two towers**

"Umbreon, use dig!" JJ commanded. The moonlight pokémon was about to dig deep beneath the wooden stage they were standing on when it was hit with a shadow ball, propelling it backwards and nearly into JJ.

"Great job, espeon!" said a woman in a pink kimono. "Now, finish it off with iron tail!"

"Essss!" the sun pokémon cried out as its tail glowed a light gray and slammed on top of umbreon's head, crashing the dark type into the ground, breaking the wooden floor. "Humph…expected better than that from an eevee trainer."

"Well, sorry I don't live up to your expectations, _ma'am_. I'm a breeder. Battling isn't my thing," JJ retorted.

"Sayo! Great job, way to put that boy in his place!" said another woman, this one in a black kimono. "I'm sure my umbreon could also beat him, but I wanted to see a psychic type do it instead."

"Well, thanks for the praise, Zuki," Sayo said, smirking at JJ.

"Geez, these women are savage…" Niko said as he watched JJ sulk off. "Don't know why they're so proud of beating an ordinary trainer. Especially one who doesn't even fight often, much less train."

"That's what happens when you're good," Fay said, "or arrogant. Either way, we've had our fun. If I'd even call it that…"

"Yeah, I was wondering for a moment why you were…" Brittany said, lightly shoving Fay as she turned to leave the dance theater with Niko and JJ. With one last glance, Fay also left.

They had been in Ecruteak City for roughly a day at this point. After Niko caught Yanma they hurried to the city to heal it up and, immediately after doing so, had a quick dinner and fell fast asleep in warm, comfortable beds for the first time in nearly three weeks. They all woke up late in the morning the next day, and neither Fay nor Niko felt ready to challenge the Ecruteak gym. Instead, they toured the city, and the dance theater was the first place they arrived at.

Here, JJ noticed that each of the five kimono girls that worked here trained a different evolution of eevee. Despite them warning that they were all well trained (their evidence: they've all beaten Gym Leader Morty with their single pokémon), JJ challenged them anyways, and was promptly beaten by Sayo, the espeon trainer.

Leaving the dance theater, the group had a mixture of disappointment and frustration settling between the four of them. So, they decided to take this energy out by going to a park and running around with their pokémon.

The pokémon absolutely loved it. They didn't have to train, and instead got to roam free for a couple hours. Niko also wanted to see how yanma would react around totodile, magnemite, and hoothoot. He hadn't quite gotten a taste for yanma's personality, having caught it begrudgingly because his friends had persuaded him to do so. It seemed that yanma was actually rather shy and reserved, much like magnemite had been when Niko first found it on its own in Kanto. Yet, he still wondered why yanma chose to follow him. It seemed odd, since Niko had a particular distaste for bug type pokémon.

Either way, yanma did find friendship with magnemite, coincidentally enough. Niko was particularly happy about this—yanma knew how to use sonicboom, and he was determined to teach it to magnemite as well.

Ecruteak City was, according to Brittany, a rather beautiful city. Fall was turning into winter by the time the group arrived, but there were still traces of the red, yellow, and orange colored leaves falling from the trees all over town. It is also a historical and mythical city, much to Niko's interest, and is considered the centerpoint for all of the pokémon legends in the Johto region. While the pokémon were playing, JJ was sitting down with Niko and they were reading about other attractions in the city.

"So, there are two towers here—the Brass Tower and Tin Tower. The public is only allowed anywhere near Brass Tower, which is now dubbed the Burned Tower, actually. Wanna check those out later?" JJ asked to an oddly interested Niko.

"Yeah, of course I do!" replied Niko enthusiastically.

Once Brittany and Fay had finished running around with the pokémon for a bit, the group decided to check out the two towers before they closed at sunset. Unfortunately for them, that was quickly approaching, and so they all ran across town to get to it as…it closed.

Fay looked at his watch. "We just missed it," he said as Niko sighed loudly and an elderly woman pointed at the sign as she was closing up shop. "Yeah, we see it. We're leaving."

"Or are we…?" JJ said, smirking a little.

"What do you mean?" Brittany asked, nervous and curious at the same time.

"Let's just wait over here for a moment," JJ whispered, walking to a bush nearby. "We're gonna sneak in."

Fay and Brittany looked at each other, shaking their heads. Niko, who had wanted to see the towers the most, also shook his head. "Listen, JJ, I can wait until tomorrow to see them. Really, let's go eat something."

"Nah man, let's check it out! Maybe it'll be more exciting inside at night!"

"Or frightening…" Niko added, looking anxious. It was getting dark quickly, and he would rather be inside than visiting a burned down ancient building.

"You scared or something?" JJ said, punching him in the shoulder.

"N-no…no I'm not."

"Alright then, we're going!" JJ said, looking to see if that elderly employee was still there and, when he saw no one, got up and jumped the small gate and onto the tower grounds. For whatever reason, no one considered to install a security system.

The other three eventually made it over (Niko needed the most help…despite being the tallest he had virtually no experience in jumping fences or gates) and proceeded into the darkened Burned Tower.

Getting inside the tower was even easier—the door was wooden, burned in several places, and broken on its middle hinge and barely holding it together on the top one. Fay led the way, with his mareep lighting up the area around with the bulb on its tail generating electricity like a light bulb. They continued to walk around, the wood creaking under them rather loudly.

The tower wasn't very big. It was a single story, with the roof blown off so that anyone inside can see the sky perfectly. The only thing otherwise noticeable about the tower was a large gaping hole in the center, which was guarded off by a metal fence that went up several feet, for obvious reasons.

JJ walked over to it and tried peering into the hole. Due to the darkness, he couldn't see a single thing, even when mareep came over and put its bulb against the fence to illuminate it a little. As he did so, he heard the voice of someone speaking.

"You won't find anything of interest down there."

JJ, Fay, Niko, and Brittany all jumped, turning around, pale-faced, at the origin of the voice. He then turned on a flashlight, being careful to point it at the ground instead.

"W-what?" JJ asked nervously.

"Heh. You won't find anything of interest down there," the voice said, walking closer and revealing more of his body. It was a man who looked to be in his early thirties. He had long blonde hair, a purple headband to match his purple scarf, a black sweatshirt and white slacks. He had a kind smile, one that suggested he wasn't malevolent in any way. "Anything that used to be down there no longer exists here. We're not sure if they even exist at all."

"Who's 'they'?" Niko wondered. "And who're you?"

"Oh," the man said, taken slightly aback, "how rude of me. My apologies. My name is Morty."

"Morty? As in the gym leader?" Niko responded. Morty nodded.

"Indeed I am. I also study the legends of Johto in my spare time. More as a hobby than anything. Me and my—er—partner, Eusine, study them together. Eusine! We've got some stragglers over here!"

Morty beckoned over to another young man who looked slightly older than the gym leader. He was wearing a purple suit with light pink diamonds on them and a red bowtie, with a short white cape to top it off. His eyes were blue, and his hair was light brown, with a streak of it covering over his right eye. He also bore a warm, kind smile, similar to Morty's.

"Ah, some tourists who decided to sneak in afterhours?"

"Err…" JJ said nervously, looking at the ground.

"Hah! No worries, kid, we did it all the time when we were younger, right Morty?"

"Well, _you_ did. I had permission and you did not," the gym leader responded. "This is Eusine, by the way. He is a legend researcher and an expert on the legendary pokémon suicine specifically."

"Ah yes, my lovely suicine. You know, I almost had it once. Was so close to being able to greet it! But you know the legendary beasts. Always elusive, which makes them far more attractive, I think."

"What are the legendary beasts?" Niko asked.

"Niko here is really interested in history, which is why we wanted to come check this place out," Brittany added. Niko shot her a nervous glance, and returned to Morty and Eusine.

"Ah, well then Niko, I think you'll find this to be very interesting," Morty said, "come back to my place, and I will tell you the tale of the two towers."

* * *

They made to Morty's house, which was just down the street from the towers. Inside, he offered the group some tea as Eusine sat down with them, briefly getting to know the group.

"So, you're challenging gyms, eh? How many badges?"

"Three, hopefully four soon," Fay responded.

"Ahah, that means Morty's next," Eusine grinned. "He's tough, just so you know. _Johto Daily_ ranked him as one of the toughest leaders in the region, beside Claire, of course."

"Well, no one will be stronger than Claire, at least as far as gym leaders are concerned. Dragon types…they're a whole different kind of battling, those are," Morty said, sitting down. "Well, if you two want to challenge me, I'll be in my gym tomorrow afternoon. Stop on by whenever."

Niko and Fay nodded.

"Anyways, the legends," Morty began, sitting his tea first. "Nearly 720 years ago, two towers were erected, built on opposite sides of Ecruteak City. They were the Brass Tower, and Tin Tower. The idea behind the towers was that they would be able to foster friendship and hope between pokémon and people. It is also worth noting that they were, at the time, the two tallest buildings in Ecruteak City, standing at nine stories each. They were also the tallest in the region, and still are, even after the radio tower was built.

"However, roughly 170 years ago Brass Tower was struck with a bolt of lightning, which burned the tower to the ground. That's what you see today. The flames lasted for three days, only to be put out by a strong downpour. Three pokémon were said to have died in the fire, but the legendary pokémon ho-oh came and resurrected them.

"These pokémon—called entei, raikou, and suicine—were said to have powers that embodied three elements, all relevant to the event that destroyed Brass Tower. Entei was given the power of fire, raikou the power of thunder, and suicine the power of rain. You asked what used to be down there. Those three lay in a preserved state for nearly 150 years before being awoken. They were placed in Brass Tower for a reason—that is where pokémon used to go to rest, while Tin Tower is said to awaken pokémon.

"Legend has it that the pokémon lugia used to live in Brass Tower, but fled in the aftermath of the fire. They say lugia lives deep in the Whirl Islands, down near Cianwood City. We cannot confirm nor deny that lugia ever lived here. No one can."

The group sat there for a moment, stunned. Niko was very excited, and wanted to hear more, but neither Morty nor Eusine had much else to say.

"That's all I have to say kids. Since the beasts have reawaken, we have not been able to find them. Some say they've all died off, but I don't think so, and neither does Eusine. We constantly find evidence to believe that they are off somewhere, maybe in far off lands, constantly running. They very much dislike humans, with the possible exception of suicine, who has shown a rare interest in select few trainers. We're hoping that one day they will return to the place of their birth, but some days it's hard to believe that. You can't keep a pokémon around forever, just like you can't keep a child around forever. Not to say the two are the same, of course. But the principle is the same."

"Morty, Eusine that was incredible! I heard that Ecruteak was a city of legends, but that was all really cool! Thank you!" Niko said, having started his second cup of tea already.

"Well, I'm glad you enjoyed it, Niko," Eusine said, "but I think you've all got to get back to wherever you're staying. You and Fay have got a tough battle ahead of you tomorrow. Best be well rested," he said with a quick wink to the two challengers.

"Indeed. I'll be waiting for you two. The gym is just down the street from the pokémon center. It's not hard to miss."

"We'll be ready," Niko said, standing up with Fay. The two locked eyes with Morty, who smirked and nodded. With that, the group walked back to the pokémon center, in shock and awe over the legends that they had heard. They all wondered if, maybe, one day they would get a chance to meet the legendary beasts. Only time would tell, though.


	21. Episode 21: Ghostbusters

**Episode 21: Ghostbusters**

Niko and Fay walked with their friends to the Ecruteak gym the following afternoon, ready to challenge the fourth gym leader, Morty. Knowing that he was a ghost type, Niko at the least was slightly worried, since only totodile had any solid advantage against ghost types. Otherwise, that was it. Fay, by all accounts, seemed to be calm and collected.

They entered the gym and looked past the plain-looking battlefield at Morty, who seemed to be sitting in a chair, reading what looked to be a very old book. Looking up, he noticed the two trainers standing before him, and stood up.

"Welcome Niko, Fay," he said with a warm smile. "Which one of you will go first?"

Niko stepped forward. "I'll go first. Fay and I switch off each gym."

"Ah, I see. Interesting. Anyways, these will be four-on four pokémon battles. Eusine here will act as the judge. Don't worry, he'll be fair," Morty winked. "Anyways, Niko, you first."

Niko, without hesitation, sent out his first pokémon. "Magnemite, you're up!"

"Ghastly, come on out!" Morty calmly commanded, summoning a black ball of gas that looked like it was snickering. "Use mean look!" the gas pokémon's eyes glowed ruby red as several similar eyes surrounded magnemite. "There, no substitution. You don't see this strategy often, Niko, especially in the pokémon league, as you might already know. Now ghastly, use curse!" the ghost type cried out briefly as a nail came out of thin air and stabbed it.

"Magnemite, thunderwave!" Niko cried out as the magnet pokémon sent out a wave of electricity that temporarily stunned ghastly. "Now, follow up with thundershock!"

Magnemite buzzed around eagerly, shooting off sparks of electricity at its opponent, who took the attacks due to its inability to move. Eventually, ghastly wasn't able to handle more attacks and, due to the curse it inflicted on itself, fainted rather quickly.

"Ghastly is unable to battle, magnemite wins! Morty will send out his second pokémon!" Eusine declared.

"Misdreavus, come on out!" Morty called out, summoning a small dark blue ghost. Its head resembled that of a small girl, with large red and yellow eyes, a ruby-red necklace, and frills on the bottom of its body that looked like a dress. JJ pulled out his pokédex to get a better understanding of it:

" _Misdreavus, the screech pokémon. Ghost type. It loves to watch people it's scared. It frightens them by screaming loudly or appearing suddenly_."

"Magnemite, thunderwave again!" Niko commanded, aware that he was under the glare of mean look and couldn't substitute. Plus, magnemite was under the curse that was wreaking havoc on the little magnet pokémon. Magnemite, although calm, did have some difficulty conjuring up another thunderwave, due to the curse dealing damage to it as it did so.

Before the attack launched, misdreavus flashed its eyes quickly, clearly using confuse ray to further trouble magnemite. It tried to use thunderwave but instead slammed itself into the ground multiple times.

"Misdreavus, use psywave!" Morty shouted. The wave of psychic energy slammed into magnemite, who was trying to use thundershock but failed miserably. The magnet pokémon was thrust backwards, the curse ultimately doing it in.

"Magnemite is unable to battle, misdreavus wins! Niko will send out his second pokémon!"

"Hoothoot, I choose you! Use peck!"

"Mean look, misdreavus!" Morty commanded while the screeching pokémon agilely evaded the flurry of pecks aimed right at it. Knowing that this was the only move hoothoot could use that might affect ghost types, Niko had no solid strategy here. However, he was also aware that it would be difficult for ghost types to hit hoothoot, who was part normal.

The ghost type seemed to have no problem evading the attacks, ultimately hitting hoothoot with a psywave before running a confuse ray at it. Here, hoothoot closed its eyes to avoid the attack successfully before launching into another round of pecks. The two kept at this for some time before hoothoot ultimately subdued misdreavus.

"Misdreavus is unable to battle, hoothoot wins! Morty will now send out his third pokémon!"

"Haunter, you're up!"

Niko, who for a moment waited for haunter to use a move, decided to go on the offensive instead. He commanded hoothoot to use peck once more, but the haunted, using mimic, gave the owl pokémon a taste of its own medicine.

"Nice choice using a normal type, Niko," Morty called out, "Haunter's only offensive move is a ghost type, other than mimic. But I'm sure you already figured that."

"I didn't, actually. I've only fought one ghost type trainer before you. And she was pretty tough. Hoothoot, keep using peck! Let's try and whittle this haunter's health down."

"Haunter, you keep it up with peck as well. Looks like this will be a totally offensive round."

As both Niko and Morty commanded, their two pokémon kept at it, hoothoot struggling with the idea of being locked into a single move. It had spent most of its training time on take down, not on peck. However, the more it used the move, the more powerful it felt itself getting. Eventually, the two pokémon fell to the ground, defeated.

"Hoothoot and haunter are both unable to battle, Niko and Morty will send out their next pokémon!"

"Yanma, you're up!"

"Gengar, come on out!"

Niko froze at the site of the shadow pokémon in front of him. Last time he faced a gengar, it was against Agatha. He had a very good impression of gengar then. He wondered for a moment if this one would be strong as well. Obviously, not in the same league as Agatha's, but strong enough to dissolve Niko's very narrow edge. Nevertheless, he had to consider what moves to use. He made a rather foolish choice with yanma—it only knew normal type moves. For a bug and flying type, this was more problematic to Niko.

Fortunately, he got some unexpected help. "I'd have thought that you would have had the _foresight_ to using a yanma, Niko," Morty said, "unless, of course, you know the right move that can actually defeat ghost types. Gengar, mean look!"

Now Niko was in trouble. He lost his chance at withdrawing yanma at the last second and relying completely on totodile. As Morty commanded gengar to use shadow ball, Niko retaliated with a double team that surrounded gengar, hoping this would buy him some time while he considered another strategy.

It didn't.

Yanma was flung into the opposite end of the stands by a shadow ball almost immediately. Niko began to panic a little. _Wish I had the foresight to use yanma…what does that mean?_ He thought. _Wish I had the…foresight…wait a moment. Wait a moment! Isn't that a move? Yeah, it is! JJ mentioned it one day while we were training. Said it was useful. But for what? Against ghosts?_ Yanma was taking more shadow balls, waiting for a command from a rather panicked Niko. _Dammit! How was this useful information!? C'mon, Niko, what did JJ say? When did he…oh! He said it a few days ago. It negates the ghost type's immunity to normal types!_

"Yanma, use foresight!" Niko said. He actually had no idea if yanma knew the attack or not, so it was a shot in the dark. Hoping for the best, yanma began to glow, albeit briefly, before turning to Niko again, smiling, but damaged.

"Bravo, Niko!" Morty shouted out. "You figured it out! Although, maybe a bit too late. Gengar, shadow ball to finish it off!"

"That won't happen! Yanma, use sonicboom!" Niko loudly commanded, throwing out his left hand as a gesture. The clear wing pokémon then vibrated briefly before flapping its wings at gengar and unleashing a wave of sonic energy. Gengar took the hit and fell backwards. Yanma then went in for the quick attack, but did not expect gengar to get up as fast as it did.

"Hypnosis!" Morty commanded. Yanma instantly crashed into the ground at gengar's feet, fast asleep. "Now, dream eater!"

Yanma shook briefly, clearly having a bad dream, before ultimately fainting.

"Yanma is unable to battle, gengar wins! Niko will now use his final pokémon!" Eusine declared.

"Totodile, it's up to you now, buddy! Use bite!" Niko yelled out, commanding his water type to rush forward and grip into gengar's ghostly body with its large mouth. He clearly did not learn from the previous round—getting too close to gengar would be, well, a nightmare.

"Hypnosis and dream eater!" said Morty. Gengar obliged, and put totodile to sleep long before the latter would reach it. It then closed its eyes as if envisioning totodile's dream. The big jaw pokémon shook a little, just like yanma. However, instead of fainting, it woke up, violently shaking its arms around. Totodile didn't seem too pleased with gengar at this point. It launched a relatively powerful water gun at its opponent and, while gengar was reeling from that attack, rushed forward and bit onto its arm, as originally intended. Gengar cried out in pain, shrugging off totodile after a while.

The big jaw pokémon was relentless, however. It leapt back onto gengar and bit it once more before shooting a water gun out of its mouth, propelling it into the air, and landing one final scratch atop gengar's head, causing the shadow pokémon to collapse to the ground.

"Gengar is unable to battle, totodile wins! The victory goes to Niko from Pallet Town!" Eusine said, throwing up a flag to indicate the winner. Niko smiled at Morty before picking up totodile to congratulate it, taking a painful bite to the arm again. As he yelped out, Eusine rushed off to grab some bandages to fix Niko up while Morty went to heal his pokémon.

Minutes late, with Niko in a makeshift arm sling, Fay stood where it friend was minutes ago, ready to start his battle with Morty.

"Ghastly, let's go!"

"Cyndaquil, I choose you!" Fay said, starting off with his starter pokémon. "Use smokescreen!"

"Mean look!" Morty said, although it seemed to fail when he realized ghastly couldn't even see where cyndaquil was. It was too late, though: cyndaquil came from the side and launched a series of embers at ghastly, knocking it backwards. As ghastly attempted mean look once more, cyndaquil used smokescreen and repeated the tactic. Before long, ghastly was defeated.

Eusine looked in shock at the strength of cyndaquil. Granted, ghastly was Morty's weakest pokémon, but nevertheless cyndaquil bested it relatively fast. "Ghastly is unable to battle, cyndaquil wins! Morty will send out his next pokémon!"

"Haunter, you're up!" Morty commanded. "Use night shade!"

"Cyndaquil, ember!"

Darkness enveloped cyndaquil as the night shade took effect. It quickly found itself unable to attack, and instead took the night shade. Luckily, the fire mouse didn't seem too damaged by it, which made Fay understandably quite happy.

"Cyndaquil, ember again!" Fay said, realizing that it was the only offensive move that he could use. None of his pokémon knew foresight—at least, he didn't believe so. Cyndaquil leapt around the battlefield, unleashing embers all around haunter, trying to evade its attempts at night shade. Clearly the evasion techniques Fay was using seemed to be paying off, despite the occasional night shade hitting cyndaquil.

Maybe he realized haunter was coming to an end quickly, but Morty used mean look to lock in cyndaquil. Moments later, an ember brought down the ghost type.

"Haunter is unable to battle, cyndaquil wins! Morty will now send out his third pokémon!"

"Misdreavus, let's go!" Morty commanded. "Use confuse ray!"

"Quick, cyndaquil! Use smokescreen!" Fay shouted out. They got lucky—the smoke temporarily blocked the screeching pokémon's vision while cyndaquil launched a flurry of embers at it. Misdreavus was able to block a couple of the attacks, but once the smoke cleared it found its moment, using confuse ray on the fire mouse. Cyndaquil wobbled a little before collapsing on the ground, taking in hits from its opponent's psywaves before being defeated.

"Cyndaquil is unable to battle, misdreavus wins! Fay will now send out his second pokémon!"

"Fay, that cyndaquil is strong. Well, more like quick, which allows strength to add up over time. Kudos to you, you're doing pretty well for yourself."

Fay smiled warmly, responding in kind to the gym leader before summoning mareep. "Thunderwave!"

"I've seen this before, I think. Misdreavus, confuse ray!"

"Close your eyes, mareep, and continue with the attack!" Fay shouted out, refusing to repeat the same mistakes Niko had with magnemite. The strategy worked out, and misdreavus found itself temporarily stunned, allowing for Fay and mareep to go in for a thundershock, slowly doing damage. Then Fay got an idea.

"Mareep, flash your bulb for me, will you?" Fay asked. The wool pokémon did as was told, and flashed the bulb a few times. Fay smiled. "I have an idea, then. We just have to wait for misdreavus to attack."

"Misdreavus, use psywave!"

"Now, mareep, use flash!" Fay shouted. The bulb flashed brightly as misdreavus noticed it, trying to close it eyes. The psywave missed; it flew directly above Fay's head and hit the wall behind him. "Wow…nice job, mareep. We might have both been goners if that didn't work," mareep turned and laughed a little. They both suddenly got serious again. "Now, finish off misdreavus with a thundershock!"

"BAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Mareep shouted out, unleashing whatever stored electricity it still had, hitting the temporarily blinded misdreavus and sending it collapsing into the ground.

"Misdreavus is unable to battle, mareep wins! Morty will send out his final pokémon!" Eusine declared.

"No surprise here, Fay. You've already seen this, I'm sure. Gengar, let's go!"

"Be prepared, mareep. This gengar is pretty tough. It gave Niko plenty of difficulty. Although, I think we can pull it off," Fay said, reassuring the wool pokémon. "Now, use flash! And thunderwave!"

Mareep's flash nearly landed, but gengar shut its eyes quickly enough. _Damn, it is fast_ , Fay thought. The thunderwave did hit, temporarily stunning the shadow pokémon, whose eyes were still closed on Morty's orders. "Now, use thundershock repeatedly, mareep!"

The attacks kept hitting gengar, but eventually it was able to escape the paralysis and launch a shadow ball, which successfully hit the wool pokémon and knocked it backwards. Gengar following up with hypnosis and dream eater, which quickly subdued mareep.

"Mareep is unable to battle, gengar wins! Fay will send out his third pokémon!"

"Sudowoodo, let's finish this!" Fay shouted out. _Sudowoodo hasn't fought in an official battle yet. Let's see if it'll listen_. "Use rock throw!"

The imitation pokémon summoned a rock from above its head to toss at gengar, who responded with a shadow ball. "Now, use mimic!"

"Ah, solid choice of moves there, Fay," Morty said pleasantly. "Gengar, use—!"

"Sudowoodo, use whatever move you gained from gengar!" Fay commanded. The rock type did just that—but it didn't seem to work. "What…?"

"Looks like sudowoodo took dream eater, which only works if the opponent is asleep. Nice try, but now it's my turn. Gengar, use hypnosis!"

Gengar's eyes began to glow as it quickly put sudowoodo to sleep. As it proceeded to steal the imitation pokémon's dreams, sudowoodo could distinctly hear Fay's voice. Struggling to fight gengar, sudowoodo slammed its branch onto the floor of the battlefield, and woke up.

"Huh?" Fay said. "Sudowoodo, did you just escape dream eater?" The imitation pokémon nodded as it stood up. "Heh, alright then, let's win this. Use rock throw!"

"Gengar, shadow ball!"

Once more the two attack collided, but sudowoodo rushed forward instead of using another rock throw. Dodging shadow balls left and right, sudowoodo proceeded to leap into the air, summon a large rock from above its head, and slam it down onto gengar, as if it was performing a slam dunk. Gengar fell to the ground, but wasn't finished. It grabbed sudowoodo by the leg and tossed it aside, pelting it with shadow balls as it got up. However, both pokémon were exhausted, and it seemed that the next attack would decide who won that round. Fay smirked—if sudowoodo could defeat gengar, then he'd win, of course. But even if he didn't, he still has teddiursa, who knew a ghost-type move: lick.

"Rock throw, sudowoodo!" Fay shouted out as Morty commanded a shadow ball. Both attacks hit their intended targets. Both pokémon fell.

"Both sudowoodo and gengar are unable to battle. Since Fay still has one pokémon remaining, he is the victor!" Eusine declared. Fay walked up to sudowoodo in the middle of the field.

"You did a great job. For not wanting to listen to me at first, you certainly improved a lot. Thanks, sudowoodo," Fay said, returning his pokémon. Niko and Morty approached him.

"Niko, Fay, as proof that you've both beaten me, I would like to award you with the Fog Badge. Congrats, boys, you've both earned it. And I'm glad you seemed to learn something from this battle. That's really the point of the gym challenge, I think—to learn more about how to train your individual pokémon and strengthen that bond. You've both shown me that while you've got more to learn, you're both well on your way to competing in the Silver Conference. Best of luck."

"Thanks, Morty, it's been a pleasure," Fay said, shaking the gym leader's hand. "Now, let's go get some food, eh JJ, Brittany?" His two other friends nodded eagerly.

"Yeah, watching you two battle makes me pretty hungry!" JJ said, satisfied with the idea that they were going to grab lunch, seeing as they only had a small snack prior to heading to the gym. His friends laughed slightly as they exited the gym. Niko and Fay were halfway done with the Johto gym challenge. However, the next four would collectively be significantly more challenging than the first four, as they would soon find out.


	22. Episode 22: The sick miltank!

**Episode 22: The sick miltank!**

After Niko and Fay defeated Morty and earned the Fog badge, the group sat in the pokémon center having a quick meal before deciding where they wanted to head next, figuring that if they left within the hour they might be able to make some progress before nightfall. As per usual, JJ opened up the pamphlet and examined where the next gyms were.

"Well, there's quite a bit of them, actually."

"Whaddya mean?" Niko asked in between bites of a sandwich.

"So, there's a gym in Mahogany Town to the east, but there's also gyms in Olivine and Cianwood to the west. Those two are the only ones to the west of us, and there's two to the east—Mahogany and Blackthorn."

"Well, haven't we heard that the Blackthorn gym is one of the hardest in Johto?" Niko wondered. "If so, maybe we should save that one and Mahogany for last."

JJ nodded in agreement, still looking over the map and pamphlet. "That makes uh sense, Niko. We can hit up Olivine first, then Cianwood, and then come back through here on our way to Mahogany. Sound good?"

"Sounds fine with me," Fay said, piping in, "Who is the gym leader for Olivine?"

"Her name is Jasmine. She apparently uses steel types."

"Oh!" Niko exclaimed, pointing a finger in the air. "Professor Elm mentioned her. Said she's pretty tough, actually. Now…steel is weak to…? What again?"

"Fire, fighting, and ground," Fay responded. Niko slammed his head on the table. "So…err…"

"Yeah, I know. This'll be the toughest gym yet for me, I'm sure. Guess we're gonna have to train even harder…" Niko mumbled, his head still face-down on the table. "Whereas you'll have the easiest time, Mr. I-have-a-fire-type-and-a- pokémon-that-can-learn-fighting-moves…"

"Well, cheer up, Niko. The gym after that—Cianwood—is fighting type. You'll actually do just fine there. You have two flying types!" JJ mentioned cheerfully. This seemed to only temporarily lift Niko's spirits.

"That's true…anyways, let's get a move on. How long does it take to get to Olivine?"

"From the looks of it…maybe a week or so?" JJ mentioned.

 _Doesn't seem too bad…_ Niko thought. _It'll give me plenty of time to figure out how to beat steel types_.

A few hours into their journey towards Olivine City, the group took refuge under a rather large tree while it began to rain. The poor weather also seemed to ruin their attempts at training, which made Niko unusually irritable. Eventually, he seemed to calm down as the rain began to stop. However, by that time, it was late into the night, and he figured it would be best to just sleep.

* * *

"Niko! Wake up!" Brittany said, lightly shaking her friend. Niko quickly opened his eyes and sat up. His brown hair was pointing in odd directions and looked very unkempt. Rubbing his eyes briefly, he groggily asked what happened. "Fay and JJ found this miltank on the side of the road, and they don't know what to do!"

"And how can I help? I'm not a doctor or anything…" he responded, very confused.

"Well, I woke you because you have pokémon who can go and find help from the air. Fay and JJ are giving it water and don't know what else to do…Fay's tried a bit of each of his antidotes, and nothing's working."

"Alright, I got it. Hoothoot, yanma, come on out!" Niko said, reaching for his jeans and summoning his two flying type pokémon. "I need you to split up and look for some help. We have a sick miltank on the ground and don't know what to do. If you can't find anything in the next half hour, come back to this spot. Got it?"

Hoothoot and yanma both nodded, and flew off, leaving Niko to get out of his sleeping bag and get dressed. Brittany looked away briefly to pet pichu, who seemed to be just fine, despite seeing a sick pokémon for the first time. Niko then finished and asked if he could go see the miltank. Brittany led him over to the road, which was just a couple minutes from their campsite. Niko gasped at the sight.

The cow pokémon was on its back, head resting on a light blue blanket that belonged to JJ. Its forehead was beet red and sweating quite a bit. While it was definitely asleep, it did not look comfortable. Niko bent down to get a closer look at it. They sat there for a while; Fay kept funneling water into its mouth to keep it hydrated. Moments later, hoothoot arrived back with what seemed to be a middle-aged couple running behind it.

"Oh my! What's happened to our miltank!?" the man said. He was a portly fellow who clearly looked like he was balding, as he only had light brown hair running behind his ears. The woman, presumably his wife, was a short woman, albeit not much shorter than Brittany, who was close to the average height of a fully-grown woman. They both ran over to miltank, nearly shoving Fay and JJ aside as they examined their pokémon. "How long ago did this happen? What did you do to our miltank!?" He shouted at JJ, who responded with a look of pure fright.

"We-we didn't do a-anything, sir!" he said, shaking his hands. "My friend and I found miltank in the road, went to wake up our other friend whose hoothoot you just met."

"We've been giving it water constantly. I've tried antidotes and other medications that I can think of, but I don't know what else to do," Fay responded in as calm a tone as he could muster. The man still looked like his nearly bald head was about to erupt.

"You've tried _everything_ haven't you!? Clearly not, as my poor Milky is going to die BECAUSE OF YOU TWO BOYS!"

"Honey…" the wife began, "you need to calm down for a moment. They've done all they could do for us…"

"CLEARLY NOT!" the man kept shouting.

"Well screaming isn't going to solve anything!" Brittany responded, equally as loud. The man looked up, his face contorted with rage. "We've done everything we can! We _sought_ out your help, and clearly that seemed like a mistake!"

The man sighed heavily, clearly showing little signs of calming down. He stood up and approached Brittany in a very threatening way.

"Listen here, little girl," he said in a soft, but still rage-filled, tone. "No one gets between me, my wife, and my Milky. We have worked harder than you _ever_ will on the farm that we've built together. But I'll have you know, the milk industry isn't doing so well, and so when something happens to our miltank, it's our lives on the line. NOT. YOURS."

He walked away from Brittany and got onto his hands and feet, picking up Milky off the ground.

"Thank you for doing all that you can. And…I'm sorry about my husband. He gets stressed out often nowadays. I keep saying it isn't healthy…" the wife said as she walked with her volcanic husband.

For a moment, the group just stood there, in shock over what they just witnessed.

"I've never seen anyone so…angry…" Niko said. This was quite true: he had seen his parents get angry, but they never went as far as look as terrifying and threatening as that man was. Brittany seemed to agree with him. She still looked a little shaken up.

"Well, we need to figure out what's going on, and how we can fix this," JJ said. He was quite right—even though they didn't need to help that stressed out farmer, it looked like he could use it.

"Yeah, but how are we going to do that? We have no idea what's wrong with it!" Niko replied, still confused and terrified.

"We can walk the path that miltank did and try to see if we find anything out of the ordinary. Sound good?"

The group nodded. Niko said he would stay back for yanma while he was packing up. He allowed hoothoot to go along with his friends. Brittany decided to also stay back and help him pack up.

It took only a few minutes to get ready to leave, and by that time yanma had returned to Niko, who explained everything that had transpired to the clear wing pokémon. For the first time since capturing yanma, Niko seemed oddly comfortable around his newest capture. In turn, yanma seemed more comfortable, as well. Brittany noticed it and wanted to say something, but chose not to and followed the man and bug back onto the road, where they eventually caught up with Fay and JJ.

The two trainers were looking through bushes nearby, hoping to find some evidence that would get a miltank—or any pokémon, rather—horribly sick. Finding nothing, they moved on and enlisted the help of Niko and Brittany, as well as a few of their pokémon. Sudowoodo, umbreon, hoothoot, yanma, and tangela all went out in search of possible causes. After what seemed like an eternity, they found something.

Sudowoodo ran back to Fay, pointing in the direction south of the road. Fay, JJ, and umbreon ran off, leaving the rest of the group behind, while they went in search of it. Minutes later, JJ came back, motioning his friends to join him.

"Guys…come check this out…" he said, looking a little nervous.

They followed him into the forest, only to see a…colony of muk…? There seemed to be dozens of muks and grimers in a forest clearing. Fay, sudowoodo, and umbreon all stared at it in equal shock. This was odd—normally they would be lurking in cities and towns, not the middle of the forest. One night when he was bored and couldn't sleep, Niko listened to his pokédex give off information about some of the pokémon he has met before. Muk and grimer were among these.

"They shouldn't be sitting in a forest…" Niko said, holding out his hand to demonstrate his confusion.

"You're perfectly right, Niko," Fay responded, "This is how that miltank got poisoned. Guess we'll need a stronger antidote. Wait…" he said, scratching his head a little. "If antidote doesn't work…do you think using a psychic attack on it will?"

"I-I don't follow, Fay."

"Poison types are weak to psychic. That can't just mean for pokémon, right? What if it also applies to the elements themselves, like how water douses out fire, or electricity is grounded when it hits the earth?"

"So…you want us to use a _psychic_ move to get the poison out of miltank…?" Niko responded, thinking his friend was crazy. And for a moment, it really did seem crazy. However, the more he ran it through his head, the more it started to make sense. Psychic has to beat poison _somehow_. "We need to go to this farm. I have an idea!"

Roughly a quarter of an hour later, they made it to the farm with the help of hoothoot's guidance. Knocking urgently on the door, the group was lucky to get the wife to respond.

"Oh, hello kids. What can I do for you?"

"How's Milky doing?" JJ asked while catching his breath.

"Not so good, kiddo. We're trying—"

"Do you have a telecomputer like the ones the pokémon centers have?" Niko asked, also catching his breath. He really needed to build up his endurance more.

"Err…yes. Yes we do. Why?"

"I have a psychic pokémon that I need to get from my parents in Pallet Town. We think we can use that to get the poison out of Milky."

"So it's been poisoned, you say?" the wife asked, looking scared. Fay told her what they saw in the forest and, while shocked, allowed them inside. Niko rushed to the computer while the husband was yelling frantically about his wife letting the group inside.

"THESE KIDS ARE WORTHLESS, MARGE! THEY DIDN'T DO ANYTHING TO HELP MILKY, AND YOU'RE JUST LETTING THEM IN OUR HOME?!" Niko heard him shouting. The loud noise made it difficult to hear his parents. They seemed just as panicked, since Niko didn't exactly explain the situation. He just needed his kadabra.

Moments later, they transported the pokéball to him, and Niko quickly summoned his psi pokémon.

"Hey buddy, long time no see," Niko said to a wildly excited kadabra. "Listen, I need you to help us out. This miltank over here was poisoned to the point where antidotes don't seem to work. I need you to use confusion to find the poison inside miltank, and try and move it out of the body. Can you try that?"

Kadabra nodded as they approached miltank's den in the backyard. The man looked furious, but his wife seemed to calm him down a bit while they watched kadabra try to help out.

The psychic type's eyes began to glow, and it shifted its spoon lightly through the air, as if moving water with its mind. At first, it seemed to be locating the poison and, once it found it, started moving the spoon in longer stokes through the air. Miltank then started to sweat profusely.

"Stop it! You're hurting Milky!" he shouted at the kadabra, who ignored him in turn.

"Honey, kadabra looks like it's getting it out!" Marge said. Suddenly, little spots of poison erupted out of the miltank's skin and from its mouth. Kadabra then moved the drops of poison through the air and into a nearby bucket. Its eyes returned to normal, and it glanced at the miltank, who awoke with a jolt.

"MILKY!" the husband yelled out, running over to his miltank and embracing it tightly. Milky responded.

"Kids, kadabra, thank you all so much. I really appreciate it. And so does Dale, my husband. He loves Milky more than life itself. You see, we never got the chance to have children, and so our pokémon fill that role. He is very protective of Milky, so I apologize if he got too in your face."

"Its fine," Brittany said sincerely, "but he might want to work on his anger management…"

"Trust me, I've been trying," Marge said with a nervous wink.

Dale turned to kadabra and the group, looking exhausted. "I'm so sorry for erupting like that. Milky means the world to me and my wife. We just don't want to see anything happen to it."

"Don't worry, we get it!" Niko said, "My very first pokémon was blinded at one point. It was a little scary, even if it was just temporary. We're just glad that we could help out. Right, kadabra?" the psi pokémon smiled at the couple and Milky, who waddled over and weakly hugged kadabra.

"Although, just so you know," Fay explained, "there's a colony of muk and grimer down the road on Route 38. You should probably notify the authorities, so other pokémon don't get hurt in the future."

"Thanks for the heads up," Dale said. He seemed much happier now, albeit exhausted nonetheless. "Say, as a token of our gratitude, take some of our moo-moo-milk! Milky and our other miltank produce this milk and we sell it to stores all around Johto. It's incredibly healthy for pokémon and for humans."

Dale and Marge grabbed a small six-pack of milk bottles and handed it to Niko.

"Wow…thanks!" he said, eying the milk. "Here, kadabra, you've earned this!"

Kadabra happily took the milk bottle and opened it with its mind, drinking the moo-moo-milk in nearly a single gulp. This elicited a laugh from Niko and his friends, who had no idea kadabra loved it so much.

A few minutes later, Niko sent kadabra back to Pallet Town via the telecomputer, promising to talk with them again soon. The group then said their farewells to Dale and Marge and continued their journey to Olivine City, and the fifth Johto gym.


	23. Episode 23: Sizing up scizor!

**Episode 23: Sizing up scizor!**

"Alright guys, the next we're challenging is a steel type gym. We don't have any natural advantages against them, so we're going to find a way around that," Niko said to magnemite, totodile, yanma, and hoothoot. "For reference, magnemite here _is_ a steel type, so for when we practice, magnemite has agreed to battle against you all," he added as the magnet pokémon buzzed cheerfully.

Niko had had difficulty coming up with a way to get around the steel type. While he has been through gym battles before where he has no natural advantage—like Sabrina's psychic gym—this time it felt…different. His team comprised mostly of normal, electric, flying, and water moves, hardly anything that can penetrate steel. Jasmine, he figured, will probably rely more on defense and hard-hitting, so he would focus more on speed and a quick-offensive strategy to counter it. That's where hoothoot and yanma came in. Both being flying types—and both rather fast—his strategy would revolve around them hitting quickly, albeit not doing much damage but hoping for it to build up over time.

So over the following few days Niko wanted to have his flying types battle magnemite and see if their normal type moves had any built up effect. Hoothoot seemed to do well initially, until magnemite retaliated with thundershock (sometimes out of sheer annoyance from being pecked multiple times). Yanma didn't hit very hard, but made use of its double team during several practice sessions. Eventually the clear wing pokémon was able to combine double team with an offensive attack, like sonicboom or quick attack, and use it effectively without getting too worn out.

Meanwhile, Fay was having a much easier time with his training. Sudowoodo and cyndaquil would be his primary fighters against Jasmine. The problem he was having was teaching cyndaquil flame wheel. He had been working on this move with his fire mouse since they left Goldenrod City, when he realized that he needed to start teaching it other fire moves. JJ and growlithe have been helpful in cyndaquil's training sessions. The problem the fire type was having was the she wasn't able to maintain the flame wheel for too long before it dissolved, causing her to crash into a fence or tree or even another pokémon. As for sudowoodo, Fay was focusing on perfecting its low kick, specifically the speed at which it collides with the enemy pokémon. For this, Fay used nearby trees or chain-link fences that they happened to find along the road.

One morning, as Niko and Fay finished their training session, the group sat down to have a small breakfast, since they began to run low on supplies. This was only natural; they'd been on the road for nearly a week at this point. Fortunately for them, they would also reach Olivine City in the next day or so, and it would allow them to replenish their stock of food.

As they were finishing, they heard an unusually loud sound off in the distance, like a bunch of trees were collapsing onto the ground.

"Err…guys…" JJ began, standing up, "What was that…?"

Fay and Niko also began to stand up, Brittany following them. "No idea, wanna check it out?" Niko asked.

"Sure…sure why not," JJ responded. They packed up their stuff, picked up their pokémon, and in the name of adventure went to check out the source of the sound.

"Scizor, steel wing again!" a familiar voice shouted out. As the group walked into what seemed to be a man-made clearing in the forest they were travelling through, they saw a ruby-red creature flashing through the air, its wings glowing a shiny gray color as they cut through trees. "Excellent. You're certainly fast enough. Now let's see how you do with power. Steel wing once again!" Elliot's voice rang out. The pokémon—scizor—rushed at the closest tree, which was now a solid 50 feet away, and cut through it with blinding speed. The power of the attack, on the other hand, was enough to send the trunk of the tree tumbling through the clearing and landing next to Elliot.

Eventually, the black-haired trainer turned to the group, who had been watching for a few moments prior.

"Oh, hey guys. Long time no see."

JJ was, naturally, the first to respond. "Hey Elliot! How're you doing?" Elliot sighed; he was not quite used to JJ's unnatural amount of enthusiasm towards him.

"I'm…fine, JJ. How're you?"

"Great! We're on our way to Olivine City so Niko and Fay can challenge Jasmine!"

"Oh?" Elliot looked at his two rivals. "She's tough, I'll admit. You really do need a fire or fighting type to beat her. Luckily my houndour was enough. Scizor, on the other hand, wasn't super effective, but we were able to beat her ace pokémon. Right, scizor?"

The ruby-red pokémon returned to its trainer's side, nodding in agreement. Niko pulled out his pokédex:

" _Scizor, the pincer pokémon. Bug and steel type. This pokémon's pincers, which contain steel, can crush any hard object it gets a hold of into bits_."

"A steel type, eh?" Niko asked with wonder, "Where'd you manage to get it?"

"I evolved it from scyther, actually. Metal coat," Elliot told him. "We're trying to work on its steel wing. It's a pretty useful move for any pokémon that has wings. Say, maybe you could get your hoothoot to learn it?"

Niko, slightly taken aback at Elliot giving him friendly advice, nodded. "I'll look into that, actually. Although, I don't think it will be terribly useful against Jasmine, though."

"It will against the gym leader in Mahogany, Pryce. I just got done challenging him. He uses ice types. Scizor made quick work of his pokémon for sure," he told them with obvious pride towards his new steel type pokémon.

"Actually, Elliot, could we have a battle with you? I kind of want to try my luck against steel types," Fay proposed.

"Yeah, why not Fay? I'd be happy to help out. Scizor, wanna test out steel wing in an actual battle?" Scizor nodded favorably. Fay then walked several yards away, turned to his rival, and pulled out a pokéball.

"Two on two?" he asked.

"Two on two," Elliot responded. "But I'll use something else, first, if you're okay with that. Espeon, I choose you!" he said, summoning the psychic type eevee evolution that JJ had fought when he was in Ecruteak City.

"Mareep, you're up!" Fay commanded, "Use thunderwave!"

"Espeon, respond with sand attack!" Elliot shouted out. The sun pokémon kicked up dirt in an attempt to nullify the effects of the electric type move. This succeeded in that thunderwave was hardly as successful as it could have been, only briefly stunning espeon while mareep was able to land a quick thundershock. "Alright espeon, you know the drill. Use psybeam!"

The psychic type charged up energy in the gem atop its head and unleashed it in a rather unfocused beam towards mareep, who evaded rather quickly and responded with another thundershock. The attack again hit espeon, causing it to falter a little before collapsing onto the ground. Unfortunately for Fay and mareep, it wasn't defeated yet.

"Espeon, get up and use quick attack!" Elliot commanded. The sun pokémon rushed forward in an attempt to collide with its opponent. However, Fay and mareep saw it coming.

"Mareep, use flash!" Fay shouted out. The wool pokémon's bulb flashed brightly, causing espeon to crash into the ground, unable to see where it was going. "Now, follow up with thunderwave!"

The electric pokémon succeeded in stunning espeon, and followed up with a series of thundershocks that ultimately give it the win.

"Mareep, you did great! Keep it—huh?" Fay stopped mid-sentence as he saw mareep glowing white. It engulfed the entire clearing as the wool pokémon grew a little larger, but it only seemed so since it was now on two feet instead of four. Instead of having blue skin and yellow wool, it now had pink skin and pink wool, and retained the bulb on its tail. Fay whipped out his pokédex to better understand his new pokémon:

" _Flaaffy, the wool pokémon. Electric type. Because of its rubbery, electricity-resistant skin, it can store lots of electricity in its fur_."

"So you evolved, eh?" Fay said, looking at flaaffy with pride. "Excellent. Let's see what you've got now, Elliot!"

"Fay, just because your pokémon evolved doesn't mean you'll win. You know that, I'm sure. Scizor, you're up!" Elliot said as the pincer pokémon leapt forward in front of its trainer. "Use steel wing!"

Scizor was upon flaaffy before either it or Fay could realize, slamming into the wool pokémon and sending it several feet backwards, carrying it on its wing and into a tree. Fay, Niko, JJ, and Brittany all looked in awe at the sheer speed of scizor.

"Flaaffy, use thunderwave!" Fay shouted out, a little worried about the well-being of his new pokémon. Flaaffy conjured up enough electricity to unleash it in wave form, only barely missing the rather quick scizor by a hair. The pincer pokémon swung back and used steel wing once again. Now, however, Fay and flaaffy were ready for it. "Flash!"

"Close your eyes, scizor!" Elliot cautioned. It didn't seem to work; scizor took the bait and crashed in the same manner that espeon had previously.

"Now, thundershock!" Fay said as his pokémon unleashed a flurry of electric shocks at its opponent. Scizor regained its vision, seeming unaffected by the attacks upon it.

"Scizor, use metal claw!" Elliot commanded with finality. The steel type pokémon's pincers began to glow as it slammed them atop flaaffy, effectively knocking out the electric type.

"Flaaffy, great job buddy, you made me proud. Cyndaquil, you're up!"

"Ah, your cyndaquil that's afraid of fire?" Elliot asked, almost deridingly. Fay nodded, smirking a little.

"Cyndaquil, smokescreen!" Fay told his pokémon. The fire mouse exhaled a strong cloud of smoke from its mouth, covering the field. However, the two did not seem to take scizor's speed into account. The pincer pokémon rushed through the cloud, dissipating it at an unbelievable speed. It then went in for steel wing, albeit slower than usual, and allowed cyndaquil to dodge it by jumping high into the air. This resulted in scizor crashing into the ground. "Now, use ember!"

Cyndaquil unleashed a series of small embers, to which scizor dodged most of them and retaliated with a metal claw uppercut, sending the fire mouse even higher into the air. Elliot then ordered scizor to use steel wing, and the pincer pokémon shot vertically into the air, quickly colliding with its opponent and slamming it back into the ground with metal claw.

 _Oh my god…steel types are…scary…_ Niko thought as he watched scizor pummel cyndaquil with a series of steel type moves, of which it should have no natural advantage.

Scizor then lowered itself back to the ground, hovering only a few inches off of it in front of Elliot. This gave Fay and cyndaquil a moment to catch their breath. "Cyndaquil, let's try this now. Flame wheel!"

"Cyn-cyn-cyn-cyn-cyndaaaa-QUIL!" the fire mouse shouted out as it ran towards its opponent, catching on fire as it did so. Eventually, it burnt out as it got close to scizor, ultimately resulting in a typical tackle attack.

Fay sighed. It was clear he would need to work with cyndaquil more on this. He commanded another ember, but it proved useless as scizor slammed its pincer into the fire mouse once again with metal claw, tossing cyndaquil into a faraway tree. Cyndaquil was defeated.

Fay ran over to grab his pokémon. "Hey buddy, don't worry. You did just fine. We just need to work on that flame wheel, alright?"

Cyndaquil responded with a shy nod. It was clear she was disappointed in herself, and didn't feel like thinking about flame wheel or discussing it with her trainer. Fay returned his fire starter and turned to Elliot.

"Thanks for the battle dude. I appreciate how strong your scizor is."

"Heh, thanks. We just have to keep training every day, y'know?" Fay nodded. "Anyways, there's this tournament on the Whirl Islands in a couple weeks, if you guys want to enter. I'm thinking of going. I've already beaten the Olivine and Cianwood gyms, but I'm coming back just for this tournament."

"That's on the way to Cianwood, so I think we'll be able to make it," JJ said to the group. "Can't imagine the Olivine gym taking that long, am I right?"

"Well, hopefully not," Niko said, "not unless my team takes forever to take down steel types, that is."

"Good luck with Jasmine, by the way," Elliot said to Fay and Niko. "It'll be tough, but I'm sure you guys can do it. I'm off. Catch you guys later."

And with that, Elliot and scizor were off. Their rival and burgeoning friend with his seemingly unbeatable pokémon. How long scizor would stay that way, neither Niko nor Fay were certain. But they were both sure that they would one day defeat it, as Fay has with scyther previously.


	24. Episode 24: Horsea in the sea!

**Episode 24: Horsea in the sea!**

The group loved Olivine City from the moment they arrived. It had been some time since they had seen the ocean, much like their trip to Lavender Town back in Kanto. Niko and Fay decided to spend a couple days hanging around the city before their upcoming battle with Jasmine and her steel type pokémon. As usual, in the pokémon center JJ outlined some things that they could do while they were in the city.

"Olivine City is famous for its lighthouse, so we could check that out if we really wanted to. There's also a pleasant-sounding café, the port, and the beach. So…what do you guys think?"

"I say the port or the beach first. Maybe we could do some fishing?" Niko suggested.

"Actually, I think that would work," Fay replied, "If we want to enter that Whirl Islands tournament, then I can imagine they'll focus specifically on water type pokémon. I'd like to catch something that I could use there."

"Yeah, let's do that, Fay," Niko said, smiling. "I also think I'd like to teach totodile some new water type moves. Got any suggestions?" He asked, opening the question up to the group.

"I think surf would be the natural option, right?" Fay wondered. "Other than that, maybe hydro pump? But I'd assume it'd be too difficult for totodile to learn that."

"Wait…why do you think that, Fay?" Niko asked, a little confused.

"Well, it's a powerful move. Those take time, and far more than simply teaching it. I think totodile would just need more experience in battle. It's like me trying to teach cyndaquil flamethrower or fire blast, or Brittany teaching her pichu thunder. It just doesn't work like that. Make sense?"

Niko seemed to understand, but was a little taken aback that he couldn't figure this out on his own, or that it wasn't as immediately obvious to him as it may have been to Fay. Its little things like this that made him sometimes feel inferior, and he didn't like that.

Nevertheless, the group exited the pokémon center and walked over to the beach on the west end of the city. They'd discussed the possibility of having a "beach day" when they got here, and so they all took a few hours to relax in the sand and hang out with their pokémon. Brittany and Niko worked on fixing up a quick meal with whatever food they had left while JJ ran around with the pokémon (a mixture of his own and Niko's and Brittany's). Fay sat on the edge of the water, with cyndaquil, flaaffy, and teddiursa watching him. Sudowoodo decided to run around breaking rocks.

Out of nowhere, the imitation pokémon seemed to cry out in pain, as it had stubbed its toe on a particularly hard rock. Fay immediately turned his head to see what had happened, and noticed yellow worm-like limbs slowly protruding from the oddly shaped rock. Confused, he whipped out his pokédex to see what his rock type was dealing with:

" _Shuckle, the mold pokémon. Bug and rock type. The fluid secreted by its toes carves holes in rocks for nesting and can be mixed with berries to make a drink_."

"What an interesting pokémon…" Fay muttered. "Sudowoodo, please don't hit it—oh dammit," he said as he witnessed sudowoodo intentionally pick a fight with the shuckle this time. Bringing its low kick straight for shuckle's head, the imitation pokémon ended up launching the other rock type through the air and into the forest on the edge of town. "Oh…dear…" Fay muttered again, slamming his head into his palm.

He then got back to fishing with his other teammates as sudowoodo continued to terrorize the poor rocks on the beach. Eventually, he decided to head back to the group when he felt a slight tug on the fishing rod that he was renting for the occasion. His pokémon noticed it, too, and were crying out and pointing to where the bait was, encouraging their trainer to reel it in as fast as possible. Fay did this, and a small, light blue sea horse appeared.

"What the…?" Fay said as the little thing dangled from the magikarp bait he had used.

"Fay! That's a horsea!" Niko yelled out. "You should try and catch it! I've heard they're kind of rare!"

"You don't say…" Fay muttered again. He turned to his team while the horsea continued dangling innocently. For whatever reason, it seemed to be enjoying this.

His pokémon nodded, and Fay turned to the horsea while pulling out the lure ball that he got from Kurt from his back pocket, as he was expecting to catch something eventually. He tossed it out, and horsea happily went inside. The blue and red pokéball fell into the water and sat there, floating in the shallow end for a moment before ultimately clicking.

"Hey, guys!" Fay said as he got up, picked up the lure ball, and turned to his friends. "I got a horsea!"

"That's awesome, Fay!" Niko replied as he sat on a towel eating a BLT sandwich. "Like I said, they're pretty rare, so that's cool that you managed to catch one!"

"For sure, and I caught it with the lure ball that Kurt gave me," he said, showing off the handmade pokéball. Brittany and Niko eyed it with wonder, and remembered that they had their own.

"That's right, I've got a fast ball, and I think you've got a friend ball, right Brittany?" his brunette friend nodded curtly, before turning back to Fay.

"If it is native to a water environment, will it be okay when you send it out on land?"

Fay thought about this for a moment, as if he himself was unsure. But he replied moments later with an affirmative. "I'd imagine so. I mean, I had a magikarp, didn't I? And gyarados isn't generally meant for land use either. The only times I didn't use it was when we were in tight spots. Remember I had to feed gyarados separately whenever we went to pokémon centers. It was just too big. But I think that horsea will be fine. Here," he summoned the dragon pokémon and let it move around a bit. It seemed oddly friendly with its new trainer. For Fay, this was certainly a departure from his most recent capture, which was sudowoodo.

The group, tired from playing around, kicking rocks, or fishing, lay down on the beach for a few hours before turning their attention to the lighthouse. They tried to tour it, but found it to be off-limits, as they were having maintenance issues. Rather, they left for the pokémon center, had a quick dinner, and called it for the night.

Niko lay in his bed, looking up at the ceiling. His pokémon, whom usually slept with them provided that they were small enough, lay across and around his bed, with hoothoot perching itself on the backboard of his bed and magnemite, yanma, and totodile sleeping on the covers where he wasn't. His mind kept running to the battle with Jasmine.

 _After watching Elliot's scizor battle Fay, I'd have to imagine Jasmine won't be much easier. She probably has a scizor, actually, now that I think about it. I'll have to work on some other strategy, somehow, with the others tomorrow. I'll try and carve out some time in the afternoon._

The following day, the group had breakfast at the Olivine café instead of the pokémon center. Brittany and JJ had been eager to give it a shot, and as the other two saw no problem with this, obliged.

Sitting down in the corner of the café, they ate their breakfast in relative silence. It seemed that JJ didn't sleep nearly as well as he had hoped, since chikorita had a bad dream and kept him up for half the night. It was no coincidence that he was the only one drinking coffee to keep himself awake. Normally he didn't—which is why when an older-looking black-haired man walked by, he accidentally spilled his cup over the man's slacks from his hands shaking too much.

"JJ!" Brittany said, scolding him a little. "I'm so sorry, sir, excuse our friend. He didn't sleep well and doesn't drink coffee very often."

The black-haired man—who was noticeably balding, too—simply smiled and grabbed a paper towel to wipe the coffee off. "No worries, what's an adventure if you don't get a few stains here or there?"

"You're on a journey, too?" Niko asked curiously. The man shook his head.

"Not anymore, not at my age at least. But I used to, and both of my children did when they came of age. Turns out they went off travelling with a pretty powerful trainer," he continued as he was helping JJ clean up the coffee on the table and floor. "My name is Norman, by the way. I feel it's rude to start talking to someone and just not introduce themselves."

"Oh, no worries, Norman. I'm Fay, this is Niko, that's Brittany, and JJ is the one that spilled coffee all over you."

"Pleased to meet you all. Are you from Olivine City?"

The group shook their heads, and found themselves in a conversation with Norman about their adventures and the reason they were travelling in Johto. Norman sat there, listening intently, not saying much of anything until they finished.

"Ah, I see," he turned to Niko and Fay, "what do you think of the gyms here, by the way?"

"More difficult than in Kanto, I'd say," Niko replied quickly. This was definitely true in his mind, and he certainly had the battles to prove it. "We're actually about to challenge Jasmine tomorrow."

"Oh? She's tough, but a kind-hearted leader. I always try to find time to reconnect with her when I'm in town."

"You're not from here?" Fay asked.

"No, but I did grow up here, and both my children were born here. No, I'm from the Hoenn region. That's why I asked you about the gyms—I'm a Hoenn gym leader."

"Really? Wow!" Niko said rather excitedly. He had previously heard of the Hoenn region, but never had a chance to meet many people from it. "That's pretty far away, isn't it?"

"Well, it's certainly not a place you want to commute to and from. It's a couple days south by boat, and a few hours by plane from Olivine City. From Kanto…not sure. I don't go there often."

"What's the Hoenn region like?" Brittany inquired. Like Niko, she found herself amazed at the thought of meeting people from other parts of the world.

"It's definitely different from Johto. It's an island region, about the size of a small continent. Much of the region is also water-based, as two of our gyms and our conference site rest on islands. The gyms are by no means easy. Mine certainly isn't. But I was only curious since you two might know about the Johto gyms better than I do. When I collected badges, there were different gym leaders, with different strategies and pokémon. I think the only exception was Pryce, but he is as old as dirt anyways."

"That's incredible," Niko said, still slightly in awe.

"Think so? Have you considered visiting Hoenn?"

"No, sir, I don't think that I have. But maybe one day, for sure!" Niko turned to his friends, all of whom seemed rather pleased with this idea.

"Well, if you ever find yourself in Hoenn, I live in Petalburg City with my wife. If you take the gym challenge there, then I look forward to battling you," he stood back up and turned to leave. "It was a pleasure meeting you kids. I hope to see you sometime in the future."

Norman's departure rendered the group silent for a few minutes. Niko and Brittany were certainly pondering the idea of travelling to Hoenn, while JJ was focused on getting a new cup of coffee. Fay, on the other hand, was curious about the gyms in Hoenn. But he chose not to think much of it, and instead proposed that the group head to the lighthouse. They obliged, got up, and left the café.

The lighthouse, now open to the public, was fascinating. In fact, the group spent a solid portion of their day walking around, examining old sea treasures and seafaring artifacts and tools. Niko was particularly interested in the history of seafaring with pokémon. Fay and JJ were interested in the technology that they used, although Fay found more appreciation in the calculations that were involved in navigating the open seas. Brittany, with some company from Niko, looked around at the paintings hanging all over the walls of famous sailors and their pokémon companions.

Late into the afternoon, the group decided to head to the beach and watch the sunset on the ocean. They turned to the forest where the sun was actually setting, but spent much of their viewing time watching the water turn shades of pink, orange, and yellow. It was the last moment of calm that they would have before Niko and Fay challenged Jasmine the following day.


	25. Episode 25: The power of the iron snake

**Episode 25: The power of the iron snake**

The day had finally come for Niko and Fay's next gym battle with Jasmine in Olivine City. The morning of the battle, the two trainers went out to the beach to get some last minute training in. Fay had hoped that cyndaquil would master flame wheel, but seemed slightly discouraged when it failed to maintain the flame on its body for more than a few seconds. If all went wrong, Fay figured, at least the fire mouse still had a fire type move at its disposal. He also had sudowoodo to rely on.

Niko was far more nervous, but he tried to not let it get to him. The training sessions where yanma and hoothoot battled magnemite seemed to be getting better, and he figured that he would have a chance to win should he play his cards right.

They approached the gym with JJ and Brittany around midday, after having a rather late breakfast. Opening the door to the gym, they noticed that it, like Morty's gym, was rather barren. They then noticed a young woman tending to some small garden of sorts. She immediately looked up to reveal the rest of her figure.

Jasmine was a rather skinny woman, with long brunette hair that fell halfway down her back and was split at the top into what looked like small wings of brown hair. She wore a light turquoise sun dress and sandals to match.

"Oh, hello, are you here for a gym match?" she said in a rather soft voice. Fay nodded and Niko, who seemed slightly taken aback by the gym leader, slowly nodded as well.

"We're Fay and Niko from Pallet Town. We both wish to challenge you."

"Very well, who would like to go first?" Fay stepped forward. "Ah, Fay right? Well, this will be a two-on-three pokémon battle. I like to give trainers a slight advantage when they battle me. It makes everything so much more fun, in my opinion."

"I have no objection to that!" Fay said cheerfully. Jasmine called over an assistant of hers to judge the battle as she and Fay summoned their first pokémon. "Sudowoodo, you're up!"

"Magnemite, I choose you!" Jasmine said calmly. Fay was rather familiar with magnemite, and knew immediately what to do. "Use thunderwave!"

"Sudowoodo, use rock throw in front of the wave to block yourself!" Fay shouted out. The imitation pokémon did as was told, summoning a rock from midair and slamming it in front of its body as a means of shielding itself from the oncoming electric wave. It seemed to succeed, but not for long, as it turned out.

"Magnemite, use thunderbolt!" Jasmine told her magnet pokémon calmly. It charged up and released an electric shock that neither Niko nor Fay thought possible for the tiny little magnemite. Nevertheless, it slammed into sudowoodo, causing it to take a couple steps back in shock. Sudowoodo then rushed forward, dodging the attempts at sonicboom before leaping into the air and kicking magnemite in the eye with low kick, slamming the magnet pokémon into the wall behind Jasmine. But magnemite was far more resilient than that, and rushed forward, unleashing a powerful sonicboom at its opponent. Sudowoodo withstood the attack, now slamming its fist from atop magnemite's head and forcing the pokémon into the ground, proceeding to use low kick once more to subdue the electric type.

"Magnemite is unable to battle, sudowoodo wins! Jasmine will now send out her second pokémon!"

"Steelix, you're up!" Jasmine said less calmly. Niko sensed that she was more fired up now. Both he and Fay pulled out their pokédex to better understand this pokémon:

" _Steelix, the iron snake pokémon. Steel and ground type. Its body has been compressed deep under the ground. As a result, it is even harder than a diamond_."

"Oh…shoot…" Fay said, laughing a little nervously. "Well, at least its part ground type. That means it'll be weak to water. Sudowoodo, use mimic!"

"Steelix, respond with screech!" Jasmine shouted out, still fired up. Sudowoodo's mimic gave it screech as well, and the two opposing pokémon just shouted at each other for a few moments, piercing everyone's eardrums painfully, and commenced fighting with more offensive moves. However, it seemed that steelix was quicker. "Use iron tail!"

The iron snake's long tail began to glow the same color as scizor's wings. It then spun around with incredible speed and slammed into sudowoodo, sending the imitation pokémon nearly into the stands with its friends. It didn't, but it was certainly defeated.

"Sudowoodo is unable to battle, steelix wins!" the judge declared. Fay returned sudowoodo in exchange for another. He wanted to see if steelix was a vulnerable to water as he thought.

"Horsea, you're up!" Fay shouted out, releasing his newest capture. "Use…err…water gun!" he hesitated, realizing he didn't fully understand horsea's move set. He made a mental note to look into it after the battle.

Either way, the water gun, while weak, did seem to bother steelix. In fact, it angered the 30-foot snake, who used iron tail in retaliation, slamming horsea square into the same wall that sudowoodo had fainted in. Horsea nearly met the same fate, but instead repelled a large cloud of smoke, likely out of fear.

"That's it, horsea!" Fay said encouragingly. "You got this! Use water gun again!"

Out of the thick cloud of smoke a small burst of water hit steelix like an uppercut, slamming into its large jaw. The steel type was rather mad now, and summoned a large rock from the air and thrust it into the battlefield, quickly clearing up the smoke cloud.

"Steelix, use iron tail once again!" Jasmine shouted out. Her pokémon quickly obeyed, finishing off the little dragon pokémon with relative ease.

"Horsea is unable to battle, steelix wins!" the judge declared. "Fay will now send out his third and final pokémon!"

"Cyndaquil, you're my last hope, let's do this!" he shouted out. "I choose you!"

"A cyndaquil I see. Can't say I've seen those before," Jasmine said with a light tone of sarcasm. Fay, appreciating the friendly banter, fought back.

"Well, you've clearly not seen _my_ cyndaquil, right?" Fay said encouragingly to his little fire mouse. Cyndaquil turned around and nodded to her trainer, determined to win. "Now cyndaquil, let's use smokescreen!"

Cyndaquil unleashed another thick cloud of smoke to make her undetectable. She then ran around in apparent circles with steelix, firing off small embers as it ran. This seemed to annoy the iron snake, who then slammed an iron tail on the ground the dissolve the smoke and reveal where its opponent lay. Cyndaquil felt the shockwave resulting from the iron tail and was tossed several feet away from its opponent, rolling as she went.

"Cyndaquil get back up! Use ember again!" Fay commanded, slightly worried about getting too close to steelix. He knew that the screech lowered its defenses, but he couldn't be sure by how much, or rather, how effective it would be. He found it best to just keep his distance, at least for the time being.

And this strategy seemed to work. Cyndaquil got used to fighting the large creature, eventually leaping over the shock wave caused by subsequent iron tail attacks. Eventually, Fay figured that it would be time to try it out. He felt that, with steelix more damaged than it was at the start, he might be able to take a risk.

"Cyndaquil! Let's show Jasmine and steelix what we're made of! I want you to use flame wheel—full power!"

Cyndaquil gave a rather hesitant look at her trainer, to which Fay responded with a decisive nod of his head. Cyndaquil in turn responded decisively, and rotated its head towards its opponent. Breathing heavily for a moment, it began running at steelix.

"Cyn-cyn-cyn-cyn-cyndaaaa-QUIL!" the fire mouse cried out as it rushed at steelix. As it did so, it was engulfed in flames and, surprisingly, began to glow brightly as well. Fay immediately recognized this as evolution, and continued cheering on cyndaquil as her new form slammed into steelix's snake body, causing the 30-foot pokémon to cry out to the heavens.

The newly evolved quilava landed back on the ground in front of Fay, rather pleased with the result of its attack. Fay wanted to check it out in his pokédex, but figured that the climax of the battle was not the best time. Ultimately, he commanded another flame wheel, with quilava obeying.

Steelix used iron tail in an attempt to slow quilava down, but the volcano pokémon instead ran up along the tail and jumped into the air, colliding with steelix's jaw, and effectively knocking the iron snake over, defeated.

"Steelix is unable to battle, quilava is the winner! And the victory goes to Fay from Pallet Town!"

"So, that's what you're called," Fay said as quilava ran over to embrace him. "Great job buddy, you did great out there!" quilava smiled as Fay returned her to her pokéball.

As usual, Jasmine departed from the battlefield to heal up her pokémon in preparation for her battle with Niko, who had exchanged places with Fay in her absence. Meanwhile, Fay looked up quilava:

" _Quilava, the volcano pokémon. Fire type. This pokémon is fully covered by nonflammable fur. It can withstand any kind of fire attack_."

"So, Niko, are you ready?" Jasmine asked, once again in a calming tone. Niko, looking slightly flustered, nodded, pulling out a pokéball. Now that he knew what pokémon Jasmine used, he seemed to have an idea of the route he would take.

"Magnemite, you're up!"

"Yanma, I choose you!" Niko said, shouting out.

Noticing this unconventional choice, JJ turned to Brittany and Fay for answers. "He shouldn't be using yanma! It's weak to electric types!"

"JJ, he has one pokémon that isn't, and that's _his_ magnemite!" Brittany told him.

"Yanma, use double team!" Niko commanded. Jasmine retaliated with a thunderwave. Yanma, who had practiced against a magnemite of its own, saw this coming and flew vertically into the air. "Now, use sonicboom!"

The dozen individual sonicbooms slammed into magnemite, adding up to a relatively quick victory. Or so Niko thought. The magnemite survived the blast, launching a series of thunderbolts towards yanma. The clear wing pokémon, clearly a strong flyer, dodged each attack and ultimately landed a quick attack upon magnemite, launching both into the ground, with only yanma arising from the cloud of dust that resulted.

"Magnemite is unable to battle, yanma wins! Jasmine will now send out her second pokémon!" the judge declared.

"Steelix, you're up!" Jasmine said, once again a little more fired up. Niko got a little nervous now. He saw the power of the iron snake. He knew this would be the most difficult battle of his Johto adventure.

"Yanma, we've got our work cut out for us, it seems," Niko told his pokémon. "Use sonicboom again!"

"Steelix. Rock throw," Jasmine said, quite calmly. As if she knew that she could easily win this round. The iron snake pokémon conjured a rock atop its head and launched it at yanma, who skillfully dodged it, hitting its opponent with sonicboom. Steelix used another rock throw, and yanma managed to deflect it with sonicboom, shattering the rock in the process. Jasmine ordered a third one, this time hitting yanma was proceeding to use quick attack. The clear wing pokémon crashed into the ground, defeated.

"Yanma is unable to battle, steelix wins! Niko will send out his second pokémon!"

"Hoothoot, let's go!" Niko shouted out, unleashing his owl pokémon. He knew from the start that he couldn't use magnemite, especially since steelix is part-ground type. "Use take down!"

The owl pokémon flew high up into the sky, only to shoot back down like a rocket at steelix, aiming for the top of its head. Turns out, steelix saw it coming, opened its large maw, and engulfed hoothoot inside, only turning its head downwards and spitting out the flying type, causing it to crash into the ground, nearly defeated.

"Steelix, finish it off with iron tail!" Jasmine commanded. Just as the iron tail rushed towards hoothoot, the latter got out of the way, managing to land a take down while steelix was distracted. Unfortunately, the take down did damage to hoothoot as well, and it collapsed onto the ground, fainting.

"Hoothoot is unable to battle, steelix wins! Niko will send out his final pokémon!"

"I'm relying on you now totodile! Let's go!" Niko shouted out, summoning his big jaw pokémon. "Use water gun!"

"Steelix, block it with rock throw!" Jasmine commanded, a little more nervous seeing a water type. However, not enough to throw her off. The attacks collided, resulting in a rather muddy rock falling to the ground. Steelix then used iron tail, which totodile managed to jump over and use water gun while the iron snake was distracted with finishing its own move. The attack hit, and only served to anger steelix even more.

"Totodile, keep it up! Water gun again!" Niko shouted out, feeling like he could actually win this, provided totodile keep evading moves.

This seemed to work for a while: totodile would dodge rock throws and iron tails left and right, all while using water gun. However, as Niko soon found out, luck doesn't always last forever.

"Steelix, use iron tail on the ground!" Jasmine finally commanded. The iron snake obeyed, creating a shock wave as a result. Totodile, who hadn't expected this, collapsed onto the ground. "Now, finish it off with rock throw!"

The steel type conjured up another large rock, slamming it into totodile, who collapsed on the ground immediately after getting back up. Steelix then delivered a final blow to the big jaw pokémon while it was distracted, launching the latter into the stands opposite the rest of the group, defeating it.

"Totodile is unable to battle, steelix wins! The victory goes to gym leader Jasmine!" the judge declared. Niko rushed over to grab totodile.

"Hey, buddy…you alright?" Niko asked, holding his Johto starter. Totodile nodded weakly, croaking a little as it tried to find its voice. "I'm sorry…I should have realized…that it would use that. It did against Fay and quilava."

Niko returned totodile as Jasmine was giving Fay the mineral badge that he had earned. However, he turned it down.

"I want mine when Niko earns his. And he will," Fay said, shooting his friend a glance.

"No, Fay, really. You don't have to."

"But I will. You'll have a rematch tomorrow or the next day. And you will win."

Niko was surely shocked by the confidence his friend was putting in him. Not feeling like saying much else, he turned to leave the gym, a little ashamed of himself. The group followed him to the pokémon center to heal up, and let him figure out his immediate next steps.


	26. Episode 26: Eyes of flesh, body of steel

**Episode 26: Eyes of flesh, body of steel**

Niko sat in their usual booth in the pokémon center. While JJ, Brittany, and Fay were in light conversation with one another (and occasionally their pokémon), Niko sat silent, slowly getting through his salad, as he didn't feel like eating much. In the wake of his loss to Jasmine, he wasn't entirely sure how to feel. On one hand, he had expected it to be one of his toughest gym battles yet, and so a loss made more sense in this case. On the other hand, however, a loss is a loss. It was the first major loss since the Indigo League. Getting through the previous four gyms (even Whitney's) seemed to be a boost to Niko's spirits in light of his Top 32 finish in Kanto.

To say he felt distraught would be slightly incorrect. "Numb" probably best described his feelings at this particular moment. And, due to the numbness, Niko wasn't sure how to proceed. He knew he needed to come up with another battle strategy, but wasn't entirely sure how he would do this.

Finishing his salad, he stood up out of the booth and proceeded to grab his pokémon before heading out.

"Where're you off to, Niko?" JJ asked, leaning over to get a better look at his friend.

"To the beach. I want to do some training."

"Say, when do you plan on re-matching Jasmine?" Fay inquired.

"Probably tomorrow. We need to get to the Whirl Islands, don't we? That's in a week or so, and I can't imagine it's a quick ride."

The other three nodded at this, not disagreeing. In fact, while Niko went to train, the other plotted their next steps.

JJ pulled out the pamphlet and map, examining it. "So, I think we agreed to go to Cianwood first and then off to Mahogany after, right?" Fay and Brittany nodded. "Well, then that means we have to travel across the ocean. Cianwood, on this map at least, looks kinda like an island."

"How long will it take to get there?" Fay wondered.

"Probably a week or so. But the Whirl Islands look like they're just north of Cianwood, so it'll take most of our journey to just get there. So if we left tomorrow or the day after, we'd make it for the tournament I think."

"Works for me. We should go to the store tomorrow after Niko's gym battle and collect some stuff for the road."

"Indeed. Also, since we don't seem to have any reliable way of travel, I can ask to get gyarados back and we can travel on it to the Whirl Islands and Cianwood. Sound good?" Fay proposed. JJ and Brittany both nodded in agreement.

The sun was midway between the top of the sky and the surface when Niko took totodile, yanma, and hoothoot out to the beach. For a couple minutes he sat in the sand, watching the water pensively. He then turned to his pokémon, all of whom looked more curious than ever.

"I'm sorry for your loss guys. _Our_ loss, rather. I knew this was going to be difficult, but I had no idea how difficult a steelix would be," Niko finally said in an unusually calm, but still slightly disappointed, voice. "We're re-matching her tomorrow, and instead of doing any hardcore training I just want to talk with you three, since I know you're all perfectly capable of standing toe-to-toe with that steelix. Especially you, totodile."

The big jaw pokémon returned Niko's beaming glare nervously. It was clear it felt a lot of the responsibility for this loss. Its trainer noticed this rather quickly.

"You shouldn't blame this on yourselves, okay? It was really my fault. I direct you guys to battle; that's my job. And I know that I need to step up in that regard if we're ever going to do well in the Silver Conference.

"So, let's just focus on the rematch. We know she uses a magnemite and steelix. None of you have any advantage against magnemite, but yanma seemed to do rather well, so we're keeping you at the front, alright buddy?" yanma proudly took charge of this responsibility, which made Niko smile for the first time since the loss. He was truly proud of the bug type and how it performed against the odds. "Alright then, if yanma can defeat magnemite then that leaves all three of you to take on steelix. Totodile, you're my last hope in that fight, as you're the only one that has the moves to win. Hoothoot, yanma, I hate to say these kinds of things, but I want you both to be the fall guys for this. That means you're going to fight until you faint," Niko finished that last sentence by looking like he was retching, as if disgusted by those words. "And totodile will go in for the kill.

"Yeah, I know it's basically the same strategy, but we need to do as much damage to that steelix before totodile gets in. And, buddy," he said, turning to the big jaw pokémon, "you're going to need to show me how great your evasion is. That steelix is very skilled with its tail. What got us last time was the shock wave, which took you off of your balance and left an opening for steelix to finish you off. We both need to be more aware when that happens, because we're sure that they will do it again. Got it?"

Totodile nodded quickly, a look of certainty in its eyes. Niko nodded, looking more satisfied than he had been since they'd arrived in Olivine City.

"Alright, good then. Hoothoot, are you okay being the fall guy for this?" The owl nodded, albeit with a slight hint of hesitation. This made Niko worry a little, and wondered if he might adjust his strategy accordingly. "Let's do some quick evasion exercises before we head back to the group, shall we?" His team cheered as they went for a quick run and worked on Fay's simple dodging exercises. A half an hour later they went back to the pokémon center to see the rest of the group sitting in the lobby, chatting a bit. They noticed Niko by the time he sat down next to JJ.

"How're you feeling?" Brittany asked, looking concerned.

"Better. We talked for a bit and decided on a strategy. Or, well, kind of the same one, but talking it through helped I think. Then we did some light training. What have you all been up to?"

"We finalized the plans to go to Cianwood. Tomorrow after you battle we're going to the store to get supplies. It'll be a week-long trip to the next city, not counting the Whirl Islands. Fay is also getting gyarados to ferry us over," Brittany said, summarizing their conversation from earlier.

"Sounds good, I guess," Niko said, nodding his approval as well.

The following afternoon, the group arrived back at the Olivine gym for Niko's rematch. Jasmine, as expected, was awaiting their return. Formalities were quickly exchanged before the match began.

"Magnemite, you're up!" Jasmine said calmly. It wasn't until steelix show up that she truly got fired up.

"Yanma, let's go!" Niko said, also trying to remain calm. "Double team!"

"Magnemite, use sonicboom!" Jasmine commanded. The magnet pokémon spun around, unleashing a sonicboom attack in every direction, eliminating many of the copies. Luckily the real yanma was able to escape, and proceeded to use a sonicboom of its own. The attack landed, and magnemite fell backwards a little, but hardly seemed phased.

"Yanma, use double team and sonicboom!"

"Magnemite, thunderwave!" Jasmine said. The sonicbooms collided with the thunderwave, negating both attacks.

"Yanma, go in for a quick attack then!" Niko shouted out. The dozen or so yanma copies shot forward at magnemite, who deflected with another thunderwave, eliminating all but the real one, who came from above and used a close-range sonicboom, launching magnemite into the ground. Once again, though, it was down, but not out.

"Magnemite, use thunderbolt!" Jasmine shouted out. She was fired up earlier than usual, it seemed. Yanma was able to evade the attack, albeit barely, before launching another round of sonicbooms at the ground. This time, magnemite started to show signs of exhaustion from the barrage of attacks.

"Yanma, finish it off with quick attack!"

"Magnemite, thunderbolt!" Jasmine commanded. Yanma, who was far quicker than magnemite, slammed into the electric type, causing both to collide with the ground, and left magnemite defeated.

"Magnemite is unable to battle, yanma wins! Jasmine will now send out her second pokémon!" the judge declared.

"Steelix, I choose you!" The gym leader yelled out, now ready to fight. "Use rock throw!"

"Dodge with double team, yanma!" Niko shouted. The clear wing pokémon duplicated itself a dozen times, shifting around so that steelix couldn't determine which one was real.

"Steelix, use rock throw repeatedly to get rid of the copies!" Jasmine ordered. As the iron snake did this, each yanma copy attacked, either using a sonicboom or quick attack. The rocks eliminated most of them, eventually revealing the real yanma. "Now, use screech!"

Steelix bellowed out an ear-piercing scream that shook the gym. Yanma, who had no real way of plugging its ears, flew around in the air chaotically, trying to escape the sound. Steelix then, in the confusion, used rock throw. This hit yanma and caused it to fall to the ground right next to Niko.

"Yanma! Are you okay?" Niko said, worried at the state of his bug pokémon.

The clear wing pokémon struggled to get up, ultimately succeeding at doing so and beginning to fly back into the air.

"Your yanma has gut, Niko," Jasmine said, smiling earnestly at her challenger. "I like that. It's making this match rather fun!"

Niko turned slightly red at this compliment, but it went away as fast as it appeared. "Yanma! Use double team and quick attack!"

"Not this time! Steelix, iron tail the copies!" Jasmine shouted out, throwing out her hand as a gesture. The iron snake obeyed, unleashing its powerful tail at the dozen yanmas that attacked. Once Jasmine noticed that the real one was once again above her, she called out a rock throw. Steelix launched the rock vertically at yanma, who was very close to the rock at the time of launch. The bug type flew into the ceiling, ultimately crashing into the ground; it was defeated.

"Yanma is unable to battle, steelix wins! Niko will now send out his second pokémon!"

Niko thought for a moment. _I don't want hoothoot to go in only to lose. That's strategic, but not right. They mean more to me than this. If I lose because I didn't use hoothoot first, then so be it._ "Totodile, I choose you!" Jasmine smirked at this choice, as if she knew what exactly Niko was trying to do.

"Admirable. But that doesn't always win battles. Steelix, use rock throw!"

"Totodile, block it with water gun just like last time!" Niko commanded. He was right; the result of these two attacks was a draw, but they both knew steelix would be faster on the follow up. Jasmine commanded an iron tail sweeping across the ground.

Here, Niko took a page out of Fay's book and commanded totodile to jump onto the tail and run up the iron snake's body. It succeeded in doing so, only jumping when its opponent tried shaking it off. Oddly enough, this seemed to work, as totodile was able to maneuver in the air enough to land on steelix while still maintaining its balance. Niko knew this from the occasional training session where totodile exerted its exceptional balancing skills. He smirked; maybe they could win this without using hoothoot.

"Totodile, use water gun on its face!" Niko shouted while totodile was midway up the body of the snake. Fortunately, steelix reared its head towards the big jaw pokémon, and fell into Niko and totodile's trap: the attack landed, albeit accidentally on the eye. They didn't expect this, but it seemed to work out just fine. The iron snake pokémon cried out in pain. Hitting it with water normally was one thing—it seemed that hitting it in the eye was its weak point.

 _Wait a minute…_ Niko thought, _the eye must not be made of steel. Is it…made of flesh? Or, rather, just a weaker substance than steel? That would make sense, with its steel acting as a mask of some sorts. Onix evolves with the metal coat, right? Yeah, it does. Then that makes sense! The eye is the weak spot here, since it might be for onix as well!_ His stream of consciousness, while lacking any structure, managed to solve the problem.

"Totodile, use water gun on the eye again!" Niko shouted out. Jasmine inaudibly gasped; they seemed to figure it out by pure luck.

"Steelix, iron tail on the ground!"

Niko and totodile both saw this coming, and the latter jumped at the opportune time to avoid the resulting shock wave. As it landed, it turned up to steelix and aimed a burst of water at the iron snake's eye. Once again it howled in pain as it closed its eyes and dove head first at totodile. This was Jasmine's last mistake, as it seemed, for totodile dodged the move and used a relentless water gun at steelix's eye, preventing it from opening out of fear that it might feel the same pain. However, it was still weak to water, being a ground type, and it took a significant amount of damage before whacking totodile with its tail.

Totodile slammed mouth first into steelix, nearly breaking its nose. As it was regaining its composure, steelix opened its eyes, stood back up and used a rock throw.

"Totodile, watch out! Dodge to the right!" Niko yelled out with caution. Totodile obeyed, but caught the resulting blast from the rock hitting the ground and fell off balance again. "Use water gun!"

"Steelix, use iron tail!" Jasmine shouted in retaliation. The two attacks seemed to hit simultaneously, with totodile hitting steelix with water gun as it got hit in the side by the sweeping iron tail.

Totodile tumbled across the battlefield, ending up at Niko's feet while steelix fell backwards, landing on its back. Both had fainted.

"Totodile and steelix are both unable to battle! Since Niko still has one pokémon remaining, he is the winner!" The judge declared.

Niko got onto one knee to pick totodile up. "Hey buddy…you did great out there. I'm really proud of you, you know that?"

Totodile once again nodded, clearly pleased with itself.

Fay, JJ, and Brittany joined Niko at the center of the battlefield alongside Jasmine. She turned to Fay first and awarded him with the mineral badge. He took it, examined it briefly, and looked back to see Niko accept his.

"Niko, I understand losing is tough. But I also noticed that you chose not to use one of your pokémon from before. Why was that?" Jasmine asked, granting Niko the mineral badge as well.

"If hoothoot battled before totodile, there was little chance of it winning. I didn't want to put it through that again, and so I chose to gamble with totodile instead. It seemed to work out as I had hoped, though."

"Well, nevertheless it was admirable. I think that alone earns you the mineral badge, in my opinion. Best of luck to both of you in your future endeavors. I look forward to seeing where you both end up," Jasmine said in her usual calming voice.

Niko and Fay thanked her and, alongside Brittany and JJ, walked to the pokémon center for a late lunch and then to the store, where they would prepare for their upcoming journey to the Whirl Islands.


	27. Episode 27: A whirlpool of anger

**Episode 27: A whirlpool of anger**

The journey to the Whirl Islands was much like their adventures to Cinnabar Island in Kanto—long, on a gyarados, and stopping at every small island or mound of sand that they could find. The week-long journey across the ocean was far more grueling than they had anticipated, and for obvious reasons. They were so used to walking on land that they had forgotten what water travel was like. And, well, it took some getting used to.

After a couple days out at sea, the group was spending their midday on a particularly large mound of sand out in the middle of nowhere. It was large enough to be an island of its own, but it didn't matter much. They—especially gyarados—were tired beyond belief. On that particular day they woke up early and swam for what seemed to be five or six hours straight, and deserved a rest for their journeys. As they sat there in the sand, they noticed JJ beginning to lose his mind, possibly from dehydration.

"Guys…why's that thing in the sky so bright…?" JJ asked, looking up at the sun with his hand covering his eyes. After saying this, he collapsed on his back, rolling his curly head in the sand as if he were drunk.

"JJ…that's called the sun," Fay quipped as he brought out a cold water bottle and tossed it to his dizzy friend. JJ didn't catch it; it hit him square in the stomach and caused the dehydrated young man to double over.

"Ow! What was that for, Frank?"

"Frank? Dude…my name is Fay…"

"Frank, Fay, same diff. Oh gosh it's that thing again!" JJ said, unfortunately noticing the eternal source of light staring directly down at him again.

Fay slammed his palm into his face. "Dude…just drink the damn water. You'll feel better."

JJ scowled at "Frank" and began drinking the water. After a while he simply passed out in the sand. This left Niko, Brittany, and Fay to figure out what to do while they rested.

"You know, I wanted to check out horsea's move set, actually," Fay said, pulling out his pokédex. "I realized that when I was battling Jasmine—I don't know its moves at all!" he opened the dex and searched for horsea. Eventually it came up, with its type, species, everything:

" _Horsea, the dragon pokémon. Water type. When they're in a safe location, they can be seen playfully tangling their tails together_."

"Well, that's great. But what are its moves?" Fay asked, rather impatiently at that.

" _Horsea learns a variety of water moves. The particular horsea that you caught knows water gun, smokescreen, and twister_."

"…twister? What's that?"

" _Twister. A dragon type move. Has a one-in-five chance of causing the target to flinch_."

"A dragon move, eh? I wonder if that's what horsea evolves into…" Fay said, although he didn't pose it as a question, which the pokédex took it as.

" _Horsea is a basic stage pokémon. It evolves into seadra, and then again into kingdra when it has been exposed to a dragon scale_."

"Hmm…that's good to know. Guess I have a dragon pokémon on my side. That's pretty useful!" Fay said excitedly. Niko and Brittany nodded in agreement, having already dug into their sandwiches that they pre-prepared in Olivine City. Fay then joined them a moment later while JJ was knocked out.

"You know Fay, this might be a good opportunity to teach our water types a new move. What do you think?" Niko suggested as they finished.

"Yeah, it might be more useful than just using water gun over and over again. But what move did you have in mind?"

Niko thought about this for a moment, and then pulled out his own pokédex to search for water type moves. The dex decided to verbally shout out every possible water move it knew. While it did this, Niko opted to just read it from the screen.

"So there's a move called whirlpool. Since we're headed to the Whirl Islands, I can imagine it might be useful, right?" Fay nodded in agreement, choosing to summon horsea. Niko grabbed totodile's pokéball and tossed it out while he waited for his pokédex to finish. Once it did, the two trainers decided to work on this new move.

"Totodile, horsea, we're going to jointly teach you a new move called whirlpool," Fay began. "Admittedly, neither of us really know how to teach it, but we'll figure it out, right?" he turned to Niko, who nodded, albeit a little nervously.

"Right then. Let's try getting started then," Niko said, walking to the shore of the island and taking his shoes off to step into the shallow end. He also created rather large cuffs in his jeans so as to not get them too wet as he started drawing a small whirlpool in the water. "I think this is what we need to be able to create, just on a larger scale."

"Looks good to me. Didja catch that, horsea?" Fay asked his dragon pokémon. Horsea nodded and jumped into the water with totodile, spinning around rapidly in one spot while in the shallow end, creating for itself a rather small whirlpool. "Well done horsea! Getting it right on the first try!" he said, congratulating his water type on its seemingly natural ability to create whirlpools. "I guess this is similar to using that twister move, but in the water, right?" horsea nodded once again, looking very pleased with itself.

Totodile, on the other hand, seemed more interested in splashing Niko with the water. At first the trainer found it funny, but after a while he got a little more frustrated, watching horsea spin around in larger circles in the knee-deep water, clearly understanding the basics of the move for itself.

"Totodile! We have to figure this out!" Niko said, shouting louder than he intended. The big jaw pokémon stopped immediately, looking up rather ashamed; it had never been scolded before.

Niko sighed, realizing his snapping did more harm than good. He looked to Fay for direction, but the black-haired trainer gave him nothing.

"I'm sorry, totodile. I just wanted you to take this seriously, you know? I'm trying to make you a better pokémon, and a better water type, alright? And I figured that teaching you whirlpool would do that. Do you understand?"

Totodile stood there in the shallow water, still staring at Niko. It nodded slowly, leaping into the water and beginning to swim in circles, much like what horsea was doing but in a larger area. Seeing this, the dragon pokémon joined in, swimming in an equally larger circle concurrently with the other water type. For a moment, Niko and Fay looked on at their two pokémon with some pride. Horsea was still relatively new to the group, but it seemed to be fitting in with totodile just fine. As the two trainers worked throughout the afternoon, practicing the whirlpool and directing their pokémon where they saw possible areas of improvement, totodile and horsea began to develop a sense of camaraderie with one another, helping each other when they needed it.

By sunset, the two seemed to be creating whirlpools in the water on command. And rather nicely, if Fay and Niko had anything to say about it. There was only one problem, however—how would they do it on a land environment?

During dinner—in which JJ was awoken for—the two verbally pondered this idea. They both seemed to understand that it would be similar to water gun, as in they would shoot enough water from their mouth to then manipulate into a whirlpool-like shape. Brittany and JJ, who both sat there listening, seemed to agree. They then went to bed following dinner, only to find themselves waking up rather early as a result.

Before they decided to leave for the Whirl Islands again, Fay and Niko decided to put their theory to a test—totodile and horsea would battle one another using only whirlpool. It would give them a chance to try out the new move both in the water and on land. They chose to start off in the water, as it was easiest to conjure there.

"Totodile, let's go! Use whirlpool on horsea!" Niko commanded. Fay did the same, and the two pokémon swam in clockwise fashion under the water, fast enough to create a whirlpool. However, it was horsea that completed the process first, launching the whirlpool at a distracted totodile. The big jaw pokémon was about to release its own torrent of water when it the two collided, spinning totodile in the water and launching it several dozens of feet backwards.

"Nice job, horsea!" Fay said in praise. Niko, however, was not nearly as pleased.

"Totodile! What happened!? You almost had it! Try again!" Niko said, shouting at his pokémon who was swimming back, ready for round two. Horsea then conjured up another whirlpool, again in record time, and launched it as totodile began its own. Once again, totodile spun around underwater before being launched once again through the air, this time landing on its back in the sand. Slightly concerned, Niko ran over to his pokémon and picked it up. "Are you okay buddy?" totodile weakly nodded. "Great, let's keep it up, alright?"

"Niko…" Brittany said, looking concerned. "I don't know if that's a good idea. Totodile seems injured from the fall."

"Totodile's fine!" Niko said, waving away Brittany's concern. "It's dealt with far worse injuries than that, right buddy?"

Once more totodile nodded, albeit weakly, as it faced horsea for a third round, this time on land. Both Niko and Fay commanded whirlpool and, as expected, horsea beat totodile to the punch. Although it did take its time building up a whirlpool, horsea was able to slam it into totodile with little effort, while the big jaw pokémon struggled to manipulate the move much at all, instead just spraying water everywhere.

"Niko…are you sure totodile's okay?" Fay asked, now looking concerned. "Look, I'm sorry horsea used whirlpool, I thought that maybe—"

"Its fine, Fay, really," Niko said in an attempt to assuage his friend. "Like I said, totodile will be just fine. Can you keep it up?" he turned to totodile, who nodded while struggling to stand up. It was looking more tired than usual and, for whatever reason, Niko seemed to be ignoring it.

"Niko, I think it's time we head off anyways," JJ said as he packed up their bags onto gyarados, who was waiting on the shores. "Totodile and horsea need a break, they've been at it all—"

"Horsea doesn't need a break, JJ!" Niko shouted out, pointing to the dragon pokémon. "Are you blind? Haven't you seen how quickly it used whirlpool, all _three_ times!?"

"Niko, I—"

"You what?" Niko said, scowling at JJ. "Do you not think totodile can do it? Huh? Is that what this is about?"

"No, Niko…I…" JJ stammered a little, unsure of what to do."

"Well, while you were off napping because you're not responsible enough to drink water regularly, Fay and I have been training. And, well, guess we all know who did better. Who _always_ does better!" Niko said in an unusually bitter tone.

The other three were silent. They hadn't seen Niko snap like this in, well, a long time. The closest he has ever been was after the Indigo League, and that was more melancholic-based rage than anything. Now he seemed genuinely angry. And, at least to Brittany, he seemed a little envious of Fay.

No one said anything for the rest of their brief time on the island as they headed off. JJ had estimated—with Fay's help—that they would reach the Whirl Islands later the following day. Niko chose not to speak to his friends for the rest of that current day, choosing instead to look at totodile's pokéball while riding on the back of gyarados. His back was for the first time turned back on his friends as he watched the road that they had already traveled.


	28. Episode 28: Whirl Islands Tournament (1)

**Episode 28: Whirl Islands Tournament (part 1)**

In the aftermath of Niko's outburst, the group sat quietly on gyarados as it ferried them to the Whirl Island's tournament. Fay, JJ, and Brittany would occasionally make small talk, usually amongst themselves or with Niko, who was reluctant to talk much.

It was rare Niko let out his emotions. He was usually pretty good about keeping his temper, even though he generally does wear his emotions on his sleeve. Nonetheless, he tries to moderate himself, even with more positive emotions like happiness and joy. As a kid he certainly had anger problems, sometimes taking them out on his younger brother, much to the little boy's detriment. Being away also seemed to help that, with exceptions like this one. It was clear, at least to him but also to Brittany and Fay, that he was not completely over his loss at Indigo Plateau.

The night before they arrived at the Whirl Islands the two discussed this, with Fay arguing that he should be able to get over that loss. From his perspective, Top 32 is not "something to whine about." Brittany took the opposite opinion, since she heard Niko's true feeling about it just before they left for Johto. Niko himself couldn't hear this conversation, and thus had nothing further to worry about besides his own issues. For the few hours that they spent on the water the following day, Niko made light conversation with his friends. For the moment, it seemed like he had gotten over whatever was bothering him the previous day. At least, this was true on the surface.

They arrived at the stadium, which was, not surprisingly, floating on the water in the center of the four Whirl Islands. They watched in fascination at the enormous whirlpools that surrounded the small caverns on each island, wondering what sort of treasures—or pokémon—lay beneath it.

They jumped off of gyarados at the dock, with Fay returning his atrocious pokémon to its pokéball. As they proceeded up to what seemed to be the registration desk, they noticed a couple familiar faces.

"Jacob? Cody?" Niko said as he waved to their newest rivals. The two black-haired trainers, whom the group had met before reaching Ecruteak City, ran down the steps to meet the group near the docks.

"Hey guys! You're here, too?" Jacob asked.

"Sup everyone," Cody said, his eyes still hooked to his tablet. He looked up to shake Fay's and Niko's hands before returning to whatever he was doing.

"Yeah, our friend Elliot told us about it. We're on our way to Cianwood and thought we'd check it out. What're you doing here?"

"Oh, we actually just left Cianwood. Got the storm badge!" Jacob said, opening up his badge case to show Niko and Fay his collection of four badges.

"Wow! And I see you've got the hive and plain badges, too!" Niko said. "That's excellent!"

"How was the Cianwood gym?" Fay asked.

"Not too bad. Chuck uses fighting types," Jacob explained, "so flying and psychic types would work. He also has a poliwrath, so watch out for that. It's pretty strong."

"Our friend Elliot has a poliwrath, and his is pretty strong, too, so I believe it," Niko replied, thinking about how he could counter it. "Anyways, what do we have to do? Have you already registered?"

"Yep. Just go up there and talk to the lady at the desk. She'll explain everything," Cody said, taking a rare moment to look up from his tablet once again, smiling helpfully at Niko.

"Thanks, Cody! I'm sure we'll see you guys around, then!" Niko responded, patting the two on the shoulders before walking with his friends up to the front desk.

As they were doing so, JJ also happened to recognize a familiar face. He was a tall, black-haired man who was standing alongside his heracross. Squinting his eyes, he finally realized who it was.

"Guys…you remember that guy, David? The one from the bug tournament?"

"Yeah," Brittany asked, turning to look in the same direction as JJ. "Why?"

"He's…here…"

"Oh! Well that's interesting!" Brittany replied, "Go say hi to him!"

JJ shuffled nervously, not wanting to. He just stood there, watching his own rival walking from the registration desk. For a moment the two caught each other's eye, but didn't say a single word. David disappeared into the crowd moments later.

They got to the registration desk and began filling out the forms. Niko and Fay went first while the lady plainly explained the rules of the tournament. The only odd rule was that every trainer must have one water pokémon.

"Wait a moment…" JJ said, "I don't own a water type!"

"Sorry honey, you can't participate then!" the front desk lady said whilst chewing gum, not seeming to give a second thought to JJ's predicament.

As she said this, Fay reached into his back pocket and tossed JJ a pokéball, then as he finished the form, handed it to the lady, he finally turned around to an awestruck JJ, only winking as he walked with Niko, away from the line. JJ and Brittany then went up and filled out their own forms, with JJ writing "gyarados" under the line that said to specify at least one water type pokémon he was using.

"Hey, Fay…" JJ said, catching up to his friends alongside Brittany, "thanks for that. I owe you one."

Fay waved his hand casually. "No worries bud. I saw that guy David here. If you end up against him, you can win with gyarados. I'm sure of it."

"Anyways…thanks…" JJ said, smiling a little.

They took their seats in the stands as the tournament was about to start. As it turned out, they barely made the registration deadline. Colton Goodshow, the president of the Pokémon League, was the host.

"Welcome ladies and gentlemen, to the annual Whirl Islands Tournament! Hosted at, as you can imagine, the Whirl Islands in the Johto Region!

"We've got a great show for you all over the next couple of days. We have 32 wonderful trainers who have travelled from all around Johto, and even around the world, to come and participate in this tournament! Now, for a quick run-down of the program. The tournament will be administered in two stages. The first stage is a race. The second is the battle tournament.

"We will begin the first stage—the race—in a few hours' time. In this portion, each trainer will compete in one of eight heats, where their water pokémon will race against three others. Each place will count for points based on their finish. For instance, first place gets four points, and last place gets one. These will matter later on when we count up the results in the battle tournament.

"Which brings me to stage two: the battle tournament. Starting tomorrow and running through the following day, the 32 trainers will battle it out in a tournament style match. Each winner gets three points, the loser gets one, and in the case of a tie each trainer gets two points.

"And now, without further ado. Let's look up at the screen and see who will be racing against whom!"

Colton Goodshow then motioned to the big screen monitor, displayed just as it was in the Indigo League. Up on the screen showed all 32 trainers, each being randomly grouped into eight heats, with four trainers in each. As it showed, JJ and Cody were in the first heat; Niko and Fay in the second; Brittany in the seventh; David in the sixth; and Jacob and…Elliot in the fourth.

"Looks like I'll get to meet this Elliot guy you've talked about, right?" Jacob said as he and Cody sat down next to the group during a brief lunch hour.

"I wouldn't underestimate him, Jacob," Niko said, "If we know him at all, he'll probably use poliwrath. That thing is a monster."

"Monster, as in…strong?" Jacob wondered. Niko nodded, having fought poliwrath himself back in Kanto. "Well, I look forward to it. My politoed will do just fine, I think."

"Politoed?" Niko asked out of curiosity. Jacob nodded, and the brown-haired trainer pulled out his trusty pokédex to look up this new pokémon:

" _Politoed, the frog pokémon. Water type. When it expands its throat to croak out a tune, nearby poliwag and poliwhirl gather immediately_."

"Sounds like an interesting pokémon, Jacob. Looking forward to seeing more of it," Niko replied, pocketing his pokédex. Jacob nodded, and continued eating his lunch.

The first heat was about to begin, and JJ and Cody got to the starting line alongside two unknown trainers. Colton Goodshow explained the rules via microphone, so the rest of the audience could hear. It was a 100-meter dash, and the first water pokémon to get to the finish line would be the winner. In the unlikely event of a tie, both winners would receive four points.

JJ summoned Fay's gyarados as Cody send out a kabutops. Both were joined by a vaporeon and seaking. Goodshow then blew the whistle, and the four were off. At first it seemed like kabutops and vaporeon were leading, but gyarados quickly overtook both to ultimately win the round, with kabutops finishing a close second, vaporeon third, and seaking last place.

"Hey, JJ, nice job," Cody said, shaking the curly haired trainer's hand. JJ returned the gesture, walking off the field with Cody, continuing to talk.

The second heat featured Niko, Fay, and two other trainers. Niko used totodile, Fay used horsea, and the other two trainer's used cloyster and staryu. The whistle was once again blown, and the four pokémon were off.

Totodile took the early lead, but began to exhaust itself quickly from expending too much energy, allowing the other to quickly catch up. Horsea and totodile were briefly tied for second place behind staryu, with cloyster bringing up the rear.

"Totodile, come one! Beat horsea, you can do it!" Niko shouted out. Fay turned to give him a bemused look. Why was Niko so intent on beating Fay and horsea? "Totodile! What are you doing? Horsea is beating you!" Niko continued shouting. Ultimately, totodile placed third, horsea second, cloyster fourth, and staryu first.

Niko walked over to totodile, who met its trainer halfway, rather disappointed. He didn't say much to his pokémon, instead returning totodile and walking over to join Fay, who was holding horsea in his arms.

"Hey, Niko, good job, bud. I can tell totodile was trying," Fay said rather politely.

"Yeah, I just hoped it would do better, you know?"

"I get that. But you can't let it get to you. Just remember that your pokémon are always trying their hardest, and all for you."

"I know that!" Niko said, his voice rising slightly as they made their way back to the stands. "I just know totodile can do better!"

Fay sighed softly, choosing not to respond to his friend as they went back to join JJ and Cody in the audience. The third heat didn't feature anyone that they knew, but a totodile did end up winning that one, much to Niko's displeasure.

The fourth heat featured Elliot and Jacob, who used poliwrath and politoed, respectively, against another vaporeon and a golduck. Fay commented how this should be an interesting race, as all of them seem to be pretty fast, with the possible exception of politoed, since he was unfamiliar with it. As the whistle blew, it was clear that poliwrath was going to win, as it took a rather large lead to start, and maintained it throughout the rest of the race. It placed first, with the vaporeon placing second, politoed placing third, and the golduck finishing last. With the exception of poliwrath, the race was relatively close.

There was no one of note for the fifth heat, but in the sixth JJ recognized David and his blastoise up against a tentacruel, a poliwhirl, and another totodile. David and his blastoise won this heat, with the poliwhirl in second, totodile in third, and tentacruel in fourth place.

The seventh heat featured Brittany and her wartortle, who seemed more than amped about the race. In the minutes before, the group could see her sitting next to wartortle, feet in the water as she was trying to pump it up. This made Niko smile a bit. He knew how close those two had always been, as well as how rarely they got to compete in competitions like this. Here was a chance to prove themselves. They were up against a tentacool, quagsire, and chinchou, the last two of which none of Brittany's friends were entirely familiar with. Cody had heard of chinchou, but noted that they weren't particularly fast, although compared to the rest it was possible chinchou could win. It ultimately did, with wartortle coming in second, tentacool in third, and quagsire in last place. The final heat featured random trainers as well, with a mantine winning that particular match.

"Well that was the first stage of the Whirl Islands Tournament, folks! Tune in tomorrow for the beginning of the second stage: the battle tournament!" Colton Goodshow announced as the total points appeared on the screen. There were eight trainers who were tied for first, including Elliot, David, and JJ.

"Wow, JJ! You're winning right now!" Niko said, patting his friend on the back.

"Heh, yeah I guess so!" JJ said, albeit a little nervously.

"Well, that's because you're borrowing my gyarados. Don't forget that, JJ," Fay said, smirking at his friend as they left the stands to grab dinner. Cody and Jacob decided to join them for a bit before heading off to the hotel rooms provided to them by the tournament staff.

The extended group talked endlessly about the various races, noting how fast Elliot and David's pokémon were. Jacob in particular was shocked, after seeing it firsthand. Niko and Fay just nodded, as they had both faced poliwrath in battle. When the topic of David came up, JJ joined into the conversation, telling Cody and Jacob about him and his heracross in the National Park bug tournament, and how he didn't seem surprised that David had destroyed the competition so easily. At this point, he seemed quite nervous at the idea of having to possible battle his new rival.

The group, after hanging around and talking for hours about their travels with Cody and Jacob, exchanging stories of their most recent gym battles and other things, finally retired to their own hotel room which, due to the size of their group, was more like a suite. As they began to fall asleep, Niko continued to think about totodile. It was inevitable that they would have to battle tomorrow, but he seemed worried that his own emotions would get in the way again. A rather self-conscious person by nature, Niko was aware of his actions and what he said about totodile, but also realized that he didn't feel any different about it. Did he really feel like him and totodile were growing further apart?


	29. Episode 29: Whirl Islands Tournament (2)

**Episode 29: Whirl Islands Tournament (part 2)**

The group woke up the following morning, ready for the day of battling ahead. After a quick breakfast, they met up with Cody and Jacob and walked to the stadium together to await President Goodshow's announcements. As they did so, they met up with Elliot along the way, and the black-haired trainer agreed to sitting with them. When they arrived in the inside of the stadium, they noticed that the battlefield was a large pool with floating white platforms randomly placed along the field, presumably to accommodate other types of pokémon who may not be water types.

"So how've you been, Elliot?" Fay asked as he sat down next to his relative.

"I've been alright. Just training with poliwrath for this tournament. How have you all been? How was the Olivine gym?"

"It was alright generally. Niko lost the first time and had to rematch her, but he did really well. That steelix though…it really packs a punch doesn't it?" Fay said. Niko had overheard him and scowled a little in his friend's direction. It was a little embarrassing for Fay to just out of nowhere mention his loss to Elliot, of all people. The same guy that is rivals with both of them. It seemed rather tactless of him to do that, in Niko's opinion.

"Yeah, steelix is pretty tough. Houndour managed to beat it, but just barely. I like how she allows challengers to use an extra pokémon. I think that's because she realizes how difficult that steelix can be to trainers who aren't necessarily prepared for it."

"Couldn't agree more," Fay said. "Well, thanks again for introducing this to us. We wouldn't have known about it without your help."

"Oh, no problem, Fay. I just figured that since you guys are headed to Cianwood anyways that you might find this interesting. And it seems to be holding up to that idea well enough."

"Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the second day of the Whirl Islands tournament!" Colton Goodshow said into his microphone, covering the entire stadium in the sound of his voice. "Today and tomorrow we will be conducting the second stage of the tournament, which is a series of battles. All trainers will be included in this bracket, and will face off against one another until there is only one remaining. Since there are 32 trainers, there will be five overall rounds. We will do the first two rounds today, and the remaining three tomorrow. For each round, the battles will be one-vs-one. In each battle every trainer must use their water type. Now, if you will, please join me in observing the match-ups in this first round!"

Goodshow pointed again to the monitor which randomly paired up the 32 trainers into 16 pairs. As it seemed, none of the group, plus Elliot, Cody, and Jacob, were facing each other in the first round. Neither were they facing David. It seemed as if they could all make it through the first round and face off against each other later on.

Elliot seemed to be the first in their group to battle, in the third match of the first round. As expected, he sent out poliwrath to face off against a totodile. Niko gulped at the sight. He knew that if he ever had to face Elliot, it would be against poliwrath, and he would have to use totodile. He shuddered to think of how much damage poliwrath could do to such a small pokémon.

"Totodile, use leer!" the random trainer said. Elliot countered by asking poliwrath to dive into the water to avoid the leer. It succeeded, and the tadpole pokémon rushed forward and slammed into the platform totodile was on to catch it off balance. The big jaw pokémon fell backwards as poliwrath leapt out of the water.

"Poliwrath, use mega punch!" Elliot commanded. Poliwrath did so, slamming its powerful fist onto totodile's back, creating a crack in the platform and dealing a heavy amount of damage to totodile. Yet, it didn't seem to give up, and as poliwrath released its fist totodile leapt upwards and bit onto the fighting type's arm. "Shake it off!" Elliot shouted. The tadpole pokémon flailed its arm around frantically, its opponent refusing to let go.

Eventually Elliot commanded it to use hydro pump, which forced totodile off by sheer force. Poliwrath then used mega punch to quickly finish off the big jaw pokémon.

"Totodile is unable to battle, poliwrath wins! The victory goes to Elliot!" The judge declared.

"Geez…" Niko said, leaning back in his seat, hoping that he wouldn't have to battle Elliot. He had no doubt that totodile would lose to a pokémon that was both a faster swimmer and stronger fighter.

The next two battles were between random trainers and their water pokémon. Niko watched only half-interestedly, until it was Brittany's turn. She was up against the trainer with a tentacool. She obviously chose to use wartortle.

"Wartortle, use water gun!" Brittany started off. The tentacool fired back with acid. The two attacks hit with no damage dealt, and so Brittany directed her turtle pokémon into the water to go in for close-combat fighting. Wartortle obeyed, jumping into the water to fight its opponent who already seemed to be in the water and was firing acid shots as quickly as possible. Wartortle managed to dodge each one, resulting in a headbutt that knocked tentacool into the side of one of the white platforms. The jellyfish pokémon quickly recovered, wrapping its tentacles around the turtle pokémon, embracing it tightly via the move constrict.

For a moment, Brittany panicked. She didn't know what to do. _If I do panic, then wartortle will panic too….right? I can't let this get to me. I have to figure this out and remain calm. That's what Fay would do, at least._ "Wartortle, remain calm! We're going to figure this out!" _Wait a second…tentacool has its tentacles wrapped around wartortle's arms and legs…what if…_ "Wartortle, use withdraw!"

The turtle pokémon withdrew its arms, legs, and head into its shell, causing tentacool to lose enough grip to give wartortle the strength to eventually let go. The turtle pokémon then fell backwards into the water, only to redirect itself back towards tentacool and slam into it with its shell. The jellyfish pokémon broke through the platform and shot into the air, landing on the very same cracked platform.

"Now wartortle, finish it off with tackle!" Brittany shouted, throwing out her hand as a gesture. Wartortle rushed forward, slamming into its opponent and ultimately defeating it.

"Tentacool is unable to battle, wartortle wins! The victory goes to Brittany!" The judge declared.

"We did it wartortle! We did it!" Brittany said as she hugged a rather damp wartortle, who cried out happily with its trainer.

The next two battles were rather uninteresting, both with trainers that no one in the group seemed to recognize. Eventually, Niko was up, and Jacob's, Cody's, and Fay's individual matches were to follow.

Niko stood on one end of the battlefield, summoning totodile to the platform nearest to him. His opponent was a seaking. Niko sighed for a moment, and then looked up and faced his opponent with totodile.

"Totodile, let's start off with whirlpool!" He shouted out. Totodile, still well aware of how its trainer felt about this move, tried to create a whirlpool in the water by leaping in and swimming in large circles. It initially caught seaking off guard, but it wasn't moving fast enough to completely swallow the goldfish pokémon. Seaking following totodile in its circles, eventually catching up and using horn attack to not only halt the whirlpool, but also significantly damage totodile.

"Seaking, finish it off with horn drill!" the trainer shouted. Seaking's horn began to glow white as it rushed at totodile. However, horn drill was such a powerful move that it was rather unstable, and the goldfish pokémon began shaking out of control in an attempt to, well, control it. This gave Niko and totodile an opening that they took advantage of.

"Totodile, use whirlpool!" Niko cried out. Underwater, the big jaw pokémon heard its trainer and began swimming in circles. Seaking then ran into the whirlpool, fortunately getting caught, and began to spin viciously around, ultimately getting shot like a torpedo to the other end of the battlefield. "Finish it off with tackle!"

Totodile once again obeyed Niko's command, swimming forward faster than it ever had before, and slammed seaking back into the wall of the pool, defeating it.

"Seaking is unable to battle, totodile wins! The victory goes to Niko!" The judge declared.

Totodile leapt out of the water and ran up to Niko, hoping to get a congratulatory hug. Instead, Niko smiled and got on one knee, patting the little crocodile on the head.

"Thanks buddy. That was a great whirlpool. Now let's just try and get better at creating one out of the water, alright?"

Totodile nodded, feeling proud of itself, but still not satisfied with its victory. It seemed that Niko was feeling the same way. Niko returned his pokémon to join his friends in the stands as they watched the following rounds.

Jacob was up next, using his politoed to fight a vaporeon. Niko carefully observed his new rival's battling style. It seemed that, at least with politoed, Jacob was a rather cautious battler. He and politoed put vaporeon to sleep using hypnosis and barraged it with double slap, but once vaporeon woke up, they retreated back and continued using long range attacks like water gun and whirlpool. He ultimately won, but it gave Niko some interesting insight on how Jacob chose to fight. Due to the bracket nature of the tournament, he would be facing Jacob next anyways.

Cody was up next, battling against a quagsire with his kabutops. Unlike Jacob, Cody was a less cautious battler. He focused on speed and offense while Jacob primarily utilized long-range moves and defense, particularly on slowing down his opponent's with moves like hypnosis. Cody was different; kabutops was a wicked fast pokémon, but it took a heavy amount of damage early on from quagsire's mud slap. Luckily—and, to Niko, quite oddly enough—kabutops managed to win by using mega drain, a move that stole health from the opponent. It was a grass move, his pokédex told him, and was super effective against quagsire, which allowed Cody to still win rather quickly.

Next up was Fay. He was using horsea against a trainer with a mantine. Niko pulled out his pokédex to take a look:

" _Mantine, the kite pokémon. Water and flying type. It swims along freely, eating things that swim into its mouth. Its whole body is very coarse_."

"Horsea, use smokescreen!" Fay commanded in the usual fashion. Horsea coughed out a heavy cloud of black smoke, disabling mantine's ability to see. Niko then noticed horsea jump into the water. It disappeared for a few moments before Fay commanded it to use twister. The dragon type move not only sucked up the smoke cloud, but horsea used it directly under mantine, which spun the kite pokémon through the air, tossing it high up and forcing to land in the center of the pool.

"Mantine, use wing attack!" Fay's opponent shouted out. The kite pokémon's wings began to glow as it quickly descended on its opponent. Horsea dove back into the water as mantine made contact with the surface, unable to locate horsea as it had used smokescreen.

"Horsea, finish it off with whirlpool!" Fay commanded. Horsea quickly conjured up a whirlpool underwater, repeating its first assault on mantine, only completely underwater. Mantine fell for it, getting caught in the attack and spun out of control, getting itself tossed out of the water and landing on a platform close to Fay.

"Mantine is unable to battle, horsea wins! The victory goes to Fay!" The judge declared.

"Great job, horsea! We're really getting that whirlpool down!" Fay said as horsea swam up to its trainer. The dragon pokémon seemed happy enough when Fay returned it.

The match immediately following Fay's was between two random trainers, but the match following was JJ's. He was using gyarados against the trainer with a chinchou. Once again, Niko pulled out his pokédex to get a read on this unfamiliar pokémon:

" _Chinchou, the angler pokémon. Water and electric type. Its antennae, which evolved from a fin, have both positive and negative charges flowing through them_."

"Gyarados, use dragon rage!" JJ shouted out, being all too familiar with the atrocious pokémon's move set. What was more surprising, however, was the gusto with which gyarados was listening to JJ. Fay figured it was because gyarados hasn't had a proper battle in a while, and so it was itching for a fight. Before chinchou could launch its own attack—spark—it felt the full power of the purple fire emitting from gyarados' maw. Chinchou stumbled backwards, clearly not prepared for this attack. It managed to unleash a spark attack nonetheless, but gyarados dodged by diving underwater and slamming it head against the bottom of the platform chinchou was on, sending the platform—and chinchou—high into the air. JJ then commanded another dragon rage and chinchou was defeated as soon as it crashed back into the water.

"Chinchou is unable to battle, gyarados wins! The victory goes to JJ!" The judge declared.

The next battle was also a battle between people no one in the group was aware of. It was the last battle that drew their attention, however. David and his blastoise were set up against another vaporeon. It didn't seem to last too long, but vaporeon managed to get some hits on the far slower blastoise. Eventually, the bubble jet pokémon fell to a powerful skull bash from David's blastoise, effectively ending the match and the first round.

"Aaand that's the first round of the tournament everyone!" President Goodshow said as he showed the state of the tournament bracket. "We will re-convene for the second round in a couple of hours, to let the trainer's heal up their pokémon and have a lunch break!"

In the food court, the group sat at a booth with Jacob, Cody, and Elliot, all discussing the matches of the first round over a hearty lunch meal. They all seemed pretty pleased with themselves, as they had all moved on to the next round. However, while Elliot, Brittany, and JJ were facing off against random trainers, Niko was battling Jacob, and Fay was battling Cody, just as they had before, but only with water pokémon this time. Despite their rivalries, neither trainer seemed too stressed out about their matches, with the possible exception of Niko. However, the only issue with him was that he worried about totodile's ability to conjure up a whirlpool. He knew that politoed and Jacob would go in with hypnosis at _some_ point, and so he needed to keep his distance. That's why a whirlpool out of the water was so critically important: that way totodile could more easily move the whirlpool through the air than it could through the water, oddly enough.

The group moved back to their seats in the stands as Goodshow announced the opening of the second round, with a match between trainers that no one in the group seemed to recognize. The first up was Elliot, who faced a trainer with a kingler. Poliwrath seemed to make rather quick work of it, throwing out cross chops and mega punches to ultimately subdue the pincer pokémon. Next up was Brittany. She was again using wartortle against a staryu.

"Wartortle, use water gun!" Brittany commanded, choosing to start off with a long-range move to get a feel for the staryu. She barely managed to watch its match in the previous round, and so only knew that it was fast. The star-shape pokémon responded with rapid spin, which quickly deflated any use of water gun. That's when she realized that this match couldn't be won with any long-range moves, only close-range. "Wartortle, use headbutt!"

The turtle pokémon dove into the water to swim towards its opponent. It was met, however, with a series of glowing white stars that all descended upon it. Wartortle managed to dodge most of them, but once it got hit, it got hit several more times from the swift attack, slowing it down significantly. Staryu then launched itself into the water and used rapid spin. In retaliation, wartortle then used withdraw, so only its shell took damage. The speed that staryu was spinning at caused its opponent to launch backwards into the wall of the pool directly below Brittany, who shouted commands for wartortle to headbutt staryu directly in the eye at the center of its body. The turtle pokémon was successful in this, clearly dealing enough damage to anger staryu and its opponent. It then started glowing in a way that indicated it was using recover.

"Wartortle, use headbutt now while its recovering!" Brittany shout out. Wartortle didn't seem to hesitate one bit as it rushed at its opponent and slammed into it once again, dealing more damage and interrupting the recovery attempt. "And now finish it off with tackle!" Brittany commanded, throwing her hand up into the air. Wartortle did as was told, defeating the star-shape pokémon.

"Staryu is unable to battle, wartortle wins! The victory goes to Brittany!" The judge declared.

Brittany got down on her knees as wartortle leapt out of the water to embrace its trainer. They both sat there for a moment, satisfied with their second consecutive victory. If they kept this up, Brittany realized that they might eventually have to fight Elliot. However, she didn't let that bring her down.

The next match was between two more unrecognizable trainers. The match following, however, was between Niko and Jacob. Both trainers stood at opposite ends of the pool. Niko summoned totodile; Jacob used politoed.

"I'm looking forward to this, Niko. Our last battle didn't go nearly as well as we had hoped. This should be much better!" Jacob said with a friendly smile. Niko only nodded in return, commanding totodile to use whirlpool in the air.

It took some time to fully manipulate the water, and so Jacob saw his opportunity. He used hypnosis that put a completely distracted totodile to sleep. Niko, suddenly a little worried, loudly urged totodile to wake up as politoed leapt across the platforms to use doubleslap. However, just a politoed began slapping the big jaw pokémon, it woke up and bit down on politoed's arm, refusing to let go. This was exactly what Niko was hoping for. He knew Jacob played cautiously and at a distance, but that was when his opponent was not sleep or stunned.

"Totodile, use whirlpool in the water, and carry politoed with you!" Niko shouted out.

"Politoed, use hypnosis again!" Jacob cried out.

"Totodile, close your eyes!"

The big jaw pokémon briefly closed its eyes until it got the go-ahead from Niko to stop. It still refused to let go, its sharp teeth still latched inside politoed's arm. It swam quickly in circles, eventually letting go and allowing the frog pokémon to be sucked into the water vortex, ultimately getting shot out of the side and into the closest wall. It was soundly defeated.

"Politoed is unable to battle, totodile wins! The victory goes to Niko!" The judge declared.

After the match, Jacob found Niko about to take his seat and shook his hand. "Thanks Niko. I definitely expected a longer match than that, but you fought well. Your totodile is pretty strong, I hope you know that."

"I do Jacob. I just think it isn't reaching its fullest potential," Niko commented as he began to watch Cody and Fay's match.

"It will only reach its potential if you allow it and encourage it to, you know," Jacob said rather wisely. Niko only nodded plainly, intent on watching the next match.

Fay was using horsea against kabutops. He had hoped to repeat the strategy he had used against mantine, but Cody's pokémon was far faster than that. It managed to land a slash on horsea, knocking the dragon pokémon across a couple platforms before rushing at it again and using mega drain. However, horsea shot a quick smokescreen in kabutops' face, causing the shellfish pokémon to fall backwards into the water while horsea whipped up a twister that carried the rock type several yards into the air, landing it deep in the pool.

"Horsea, use whirlpool while it's still down there!"

"Kabutops, use endure!" Cody replied. As the shellfish pokémon was being tossed around underwater, it braced itself for imminent impact with one of the walls. It was then able to withstand the collision once it eventually did, only to bounce back and jet through the water like a torpedo at horsea, who was floating above one of the white platforms. Kabutops leapt out of the water, through the air, and as it was about to land a slash attack, horsea whipped up another twister and send the rock type flying through the air once again. It was soundly defeated this time.

"Kabutops is unable to battle, horsea wins! The victory goes to Fay!" The judge declared.

"Looks like you'll be battling Fay next round, Niko," Jacob said eagerly, "That should be a good battle, right?"

"Heh, yeah…" Niko said, remembering his last match against Fay that didn't end as well as he had hoped.

Fay and Cody were deep in conversation about the whirlpool move when they reached the seats next to the rest of the group. JJ had left as he was the next match, but Fay and Cody kept talking through the match about any tips the former had relating to teaching whirlpool.

JJ and gyarados were up against a trainer and her slowbro. JJ began by commanding the use of a dragon rage, but slowbro halted it with confusion long enough to dissipate the flames. It then followed up with a disable, causing the atrocious pokémon to lose its ability to use dragon rage.

"Alright then, I see what you're playing at. Gyarados, use bite!" JJ commanded. The atrocious pokémon rushed forward through the water, ready to sink its large teeth into the hermit crab pokémon. However, its halted gyarados with move psychic, lifting the water dragon and tossing it high up into the air. It was clear enough to JJ that this pokémon was not only a psychic type (which he had not known previously), but was also in strong command of its psychic abilities.

However, as it was good with psychic power, gyarados was good with raw power. As the atrocious pokémon picked up speed descending to the ground, JJ command it to use bite. Slowbro used psychic to stop it, but managed to do so just as gyarados covered the psychic type with its mouth, using bite on its torso.

"Err…excellent, gyarados!" JJ said, looking at the rather odd sight of a water dragon nearly eating a slowbro in a single bite. "Now, err…throw it around?"

Gyarados obeyed, tossing slowbro across the battlefield, causing it to land in the water too JJ's left. The curly-haired trainer then commanded a water gun, which finished off the slowbro rather quickly.

"Slowbro is unable to battle, gyarados wins! The victory goes to JJ!" The judge declared.

JJ walked back into the stands to watch David compete with his blastoise against a dewgong. JJ figured that if he won, then JJ would have face him next. And, as it turned out, David did win. He would be JJ's next opponent.

"Thank you all for watching the second round of the Whirl Islands Tournament! Tune in tomorrow for the third, fourth, and fifth rounds, where at the end we will claim an overall winner!" President Goodshow announced.

The group went back to have dinner with their friends and rivals, discussing the previous day's battles while their pokémon were healing. They were all exhausted, each having to go through two battles each. Elliot and Brittany would be facing random trainers in the next round, Niko and Fay would face each other, and JJ and David would once again face off. It seemed to them like the next round would prove to be one of the more interesting moments of the tournament thus far.


	30. Episode 30: Whirl Islands Tournament (3)

**Episode 30: Whirl Islands Tournament (part 3)**

"Welcome to the third day of the Whirl Islands Tournament!" Colton Goodshow said through his rather powerful microphone. "Today will be the last day of the tournament. We will start off with the third round of battles, where the final eight trainers will fight it out to determine who the final four will be! As you can see on the screen, our first match will be between Elliot and Regan!"

Elliot approached his end of the battlefield, summoning his poliwrath to take on a lanturn. Niko pulled out his pokédex to get a feel for what this pokémon was like:

" _Lanturn, the light pokémon. Water and electric type. This pokémon uses the bright part of its body, which changed from a dorsal fin, to lure prey_."

"Poliwrath, use cross chop!" Elliot called out. Lanturn used spark in an attempt to slow down the tadpole pokémon, but ultimately failed when poliwrath used the cross chop to _block_ the electric attack, and followed up with a mega punch to the top of lanturn's head, causing the light pokémon to falter a little on the platform. It retaliated with thunderbolt, which hit poliwrath and seemed to deal a significant amount of damage. However, as it tried the move again poliwrath used hydro pump to create an explosion that hit both pokémon, launching them in opposite directions. It just so happened, however, that poliwrath had more stamina than lanturn did.

"Lanturn is unable to battle, poliwrath wins! The victory goes to Elliot!" The judge declared as Elliot returned poliwrath and walked back into stands to join his friends.

Next up with Brittany, who was facing a trainer named Noah and his qwilfish. Immediately Brittany realized that her strategy of using close-range moves might not work here—the qwilfish was clearly part-poison type and, even if it wasn't, would still deal damage just by touching it.

"Alright wartortle, use water gun!"

"Qwilfish, dodge and use pin missile!" Noah commanded as the balloon pokémon dodged and shot light green missiles at its opponent.

"Withdraw, wartortle!" Brittany shouted out. Wartortle hid inside its shell as the pins rocked it back and forth, dealing some damage but not nearly as much. Once they were over, wartortle peeked out of its shell to see if the coast was clear. Realizing that it was, it launched out a water gun at qwilfish, who once again dodged and use take down instead. The turtle pokémon repeated its strategy of withdrawing once more, this time nearly missing the spikes protruding from qwilfish's body.

This is when Brittany got another idea. Wartortle can't come out from its shell just yet, but that doesn't mean it can't use any moves.

"Wartortle, use water gun while still in your shell!" She cried out. Wartortle then set itself to spinning rapidly, unleashing bursts of water from the five different holes of its rather durable shell, and dousing the qwilfish in the water. It didn't seem to do much, but then Brittany and wartortle followed up with a headbutt where wartortle used its legs to launched itself forward, slamming into its opponent with its shell, instead of its head. This seemed to work, and qwilfish was knocked back into the water.

"Use pin missile again!" Noah shouted out. The balloon pokémon repeated its first move, unleashing a barrage of bright green missiles at its opponent, who dove into the water to evade. Wartortle then shot like a torpedo at qwilfish, using headbutt from inside its shell and knocking the pokémon backwards. Still underwater, wartortle repeated the move—enduring the barrage of pin missiles and the occasional poison sting—until qwilfish fell.

"Qwilfish is unable to battle, wartortle wins! The victory goes to Brittany!" The judge declared.

Brittany ran across the side of the pool towards a very exhausted wartortle, who managed to climb up onto the side of the pool to meet its trainer.

"You did a great job, wartortle!" Brittany said, embracing her first pokémon. "I'm so proud of you!" Wartortle returned the gesture, feeling comfortable now that the battle was over.

The next match was Niko and Fay. Like at the Indigo League, they stood across from one another. Niko looked down at totodile's pokéball, wondering if they could really pull this off. Horsea has shown its ability to be a fast and cunning pokémon, and Fay was a far better strategic thinker than Niko was. Nonetheless, he summoned totodile and hoped for the best as Fay summoned his horsea.

"Horsea, use smokescreen!" Fay commanded.

"Totodile, run into the smoke!" Niko said in a rather unorthodox move. Totodile dove off its platform and into the water, understanding what its trainer was trying to do. The big jaw pokémon quickly found horsea preparing a whirlpool, and rushed forward in an attempt to bite onto it before the dragon pokémon could succeed. As before, totodile was too slow, managed to get caught in the vortex and launched out of the water and into the thick cloud of smoke, where the little crocodile had difficulty catching its breath.

Once the smoke dissipated, totodile was sitting on a platform trying to take a quick rest as horsea leapt out of the water and used whirlpool in midair, launching it at totodile. The big jaw pokémon once again got caught in it, being flung across the pool once more.

"Totodile, you have to stand up! Don't let it beat you in speed!" Niko shouted out, slightly frustrated. He didn't want to lose to Fay, no matter what. For himself, and for his pokémon, he needed to win this.

After totodile took another whirlpool to the face, flinging it high into the air, Niko began to lose it a little more. He started shouting commands at totodile, who was underwater and badly damaged. Horsea was about to use another whirlpool when totodile managed to get out of the way at the last second, barely missing the hurdling vortex of water. Totodile then, to the surprise of many—Niko included—conjured an underwater whirlpool in record time, swallowing up horsea and launching it into the air.

Totodile then jumped out of the water and onto the platform immediately, creating another whirlpool directly under horsea as it landed, sending it crashing into a wall to the side of the pool.

"Totodile! That was great! You did a great—huh?"

Niko paused for a moment. Totodile was glowing a bright white color. It began to grow larger, nearly a foot taller, and now bore three red spikes on the top of its head that looked like a Mohawk of sorts and a red diamond-shape spike on its tail. Its body was a yellow and blue pattern, and its mouth was much larger.

In the stands, Brittany pulled out her pokédex to observe totodile's evolution:

" _Croconaw, the big jaw pokémon. The tips of its fangs are slanted backward. Once those fangs clamp down, the prey has no hope of escape_."

Niko stared in awe at his new pokémon. As did Fay and horsea, the latter of which had just emerged from under the water when it noticed the bright white glow.

"Horsea, let's not waste time then! Use twister!"

"Alright croconaw, we can do this! Use whirlpool to counter it!" Niko commanded. However, croconaw didn't seem to listen.

The big jaw pokémon leapt into the water and swam at horsea, getting caught in the whirlpool as if on purpose. It was flung into the wall nearby, but instead made another run at horsea, again not on Niko's orders.

"No, croconaw! Use _whirlpool_!" He shouted out. Croconaw, for whatever reason, refused to listen. However, it was hard to ignore that it was getting results. The big jaw pokémon used bite on the tiny horsea, nearly swallowing it whole, and tossing it out of the water, causing it to land on a platform.

Croconaw then leapt onto that same platform and just _punched_ the already damaged horsea, not bothering to wait for any command of Niko's. The brown-haired trainer watched as croconaw slammed its claws into an already beaten down horsea, eventually defeating it with another bite attack.

The judge stood there, stunned for a moment. "Horsea is unable to battle…croconaw is the winner! The victory goes to Niko!"

Niko stood there, unsure of how to react. He wasn't even sure if he was happy that he won. He finally beat Fay in an official match, but it wasn't on his own orders. Croconaw defeated horsea without listening to anything Niko told it to do. He just stood there as he watched Fay return a damaged horsea; croconaw had fallen asleep on the platform where it beat down its previous opponent.

His arrival back at the stands was the most awkward it has ever been. It was clear to him now that his croconaw had gone too far and, as its trainer, Niko was to blame. Fay nodded as he sat down next to Jacob and Brittany, both of whom also nodded. Jacob offered his congratulations on making it to the semifinals, but Niko barely mouthed a "thanks" before turning to watch JJ's match against David.

"So, you're the same trainer that I met in National Park, right?" David said in a deep voice.

"Yeah, you're the guy with the heracross, right?" David nodded. "Then this should be a fun battle. Go, gyarados!"

"That's what I'm hoping for. Blastoise, I choose you!"

"Gyarados, use dragon rage!" JJ commanded.

"Blastoise, block it with hydro pump!" David shouted out. The two attacks—purple fire and twin jets of water—collided in the middle of the field, but the hydro pump, being twice as strong, ultimately won out and hit gyarados in the face. "Now, follow up with skull bash!"

Blastoise leapt into the water and shot at gyarados, who was already in the water. The shellfish pokémon moved at such as speed that JJ had difficulty reacting fast enough. By the time he even uttered the words "dragon rage," blastoise had already struck gyarados' torso, eliciting a painful cry from the atrocious pokémon. Gyarados doubled over, crashing into the water as blastoise followed up with a rapid spin, spinning around vertically so that it dealt a significant amount of damage.

Gyarados was down, but not out—yet. JJ commanded it use bite on blastoise, and it succeeded, but it gripped onto the front of the shellfish pokémon. Blastoise fired off hydro pump from its twin cannons, forcing itself out of gyarados' mouth and doing damage at the same time. The water dragon cried out again and, under JJ's command, used dragon rage once more.

"Blastoise, finish it off with a skull bash!" David yelled out. The shellfish pokémon once again rushed forward at an incredible speed and slammed into gyarados, ultimately defeating the atrocious pokémon.

"Gyarados is unable to battle, blastoise wins! The victory goes to David!" The judge declared.

JJ returned gyarados and walked over to the other side of the field to congratulate David.

"Great battle. That gyarados is pretty strong. Are you challenging gyms?" He asked JJ as the two walked away from the battlefield.

"Nah, but my friends are. This is actually one of theirs. You know the guy with the horsea?" David nodded. "It's actually his. I don't own a water pokémon of my own, so I asked if I could borrow his."

"That's very nice of him. Say, I guess that means I have to fight that dude with the croconaw. You saw that, right?" JJ nodded as well. "Crazy fight. Hopefully blastoise and I can put it in its place."

"He's also one of my friends. I'm not sure what's going on with him right now, but he is having a lot of difficulty training his totodile. Or rather, his croconaw. He just lost a gym battle that he was already at a disadvantage in, and it pissed him off."

"Ah, I see. I can understand that. Being a trainer is hard. It has its ups and downs. Your friend will be fine in the end. And I'm sure this thing with croconaw is just a phase."

"Think so?" JJ asked, looking up at his rather tall rival. David nodded. For whatever reason, it made JJ feel a little better.

"The tournament has now reached its semifinals!" Goodshow announced half an hour later, once the semifinalists had healed up their pokémon. "In our first matchup of the round, we have Brittany facing off against Elliot, and in the second matchup, we have Niko facing off against David!"

Brittany and Elliot took their spots on opposite ends of the field. Brittany knew how tough Elliot was. She's seen him in leagues and on the road. He would be far more formidable than any trainer she has ever fought before. And, if she was being completely honest with herself, she entirely expected to lose. However, out of respect to wartortle, she promised to herself that they would put up a fight before going down.

"Poliwrath, use cross chop!" Elliot commanded. The tadpole pokémon rushed forward, leaping off of its platform and into the air with incredible power, its arms crossed and glowing white.

"Wartortle, dodge and use headbutt!" Brittany shouted out. The turtle pokémon leapt to its left as poliwrath crashed into the platform they were both on, breaking it down the center, causing the fighting type to fall into the water. Wartortle, not forgetting its orders, rushed into the water and used headbutt, hitting poliwrath in the back.

The tadpole pokémon turned around quickly and raised a fist to punch its opponent, only for wartortle to withdraw into its shell. The punch connected with wartortle, launching the turtle pokémon out of the water and nearly into the stands, when it collided with a net set up specifically for that reason, and collapsed onto the ground.

However, wartortle wasn't out. It saw poliwrath rush towards it, only to evade its cross chop once again and proceed to use headbutt on the tadpole pokémon's side, knocking both pokémon into the water.

"Poliwrath, let's stop playing around!" Elliot shouted, realizing this was far more difficult than he had imagined. "Use mega punch and finish it off!"

Poliwrath obeyed, connecting yet another mega punch on wartortle, who had not yet withdrawn itself. The turtle pokémon cried out in pain underwater as it was once again launched back down, this time crash landing right next to its trainer.

"Wartortle is unable to battle, poliwrath wins! The victory goes to Elliot, who will be proceeding to the final round!" The judge declared.

"Hey, Brittany," Elliot said as he walked up to the brunette girl after the match. "Nice job! I didn't know your wartortle was that strong."

"Well, it was my first pokémon. We've been together for a long time now, and I've been training with it since I started my journey with Niko, Fay, and JJ. Thanks, though. I appreciate that."

"No problem," Elliot said, smiling warmly. Brittany's cheeks shown a slight pink color at the complement that her friend's rival had given her. Rarely did anyone comment on her battling style.

"Anyways, I think Niko's up. Guess whoever wins this will be your opponent."

"Yeah, looks like it," Elliot replied as the two arrived in their seats, just when Niko's match was about to start. "Not sure who I want to win this, honestly. Niko seems to be constantly upset, but that David guy is pretty tough."

"Honestly Elliot, I have to agree with you," Fay said, with a slightly bitter tone.

"Aaand now we have the second match of the semifinals! Niko versus David!" Colton Goodshow announced through the microphone. "Whoever wins this will challenge Elliot in the finals. Good luck to the both of them!"

"Blastoise, you're up!" David said plainly.

"Croconaw, I choose you!" Niko commanded, albeit reluctantly. After its battle with horsea, Niko was unsure of his newly evolved pokémon. Croconaw didn't listen to him, at all. _Was it because of how hard I pushed it? How it might have felt neglected?_ He considered this for a moment, but had to re-focus his attention to the battle at hand. "Use bite!"

"Blastoise, respond with skull bash!" David shouted out. The shellfish pokémon lowered its head as it began to glow a little and, using its hind legs, shot through the air towards its opponent. The attack successfully hit, slamming into croconaw with unbelievable force. The two crashed into the water below, creating a crack in the wall of the pool directly under Niko.

"Croconaw! Are you okay?" Niko yelled out with concern in his voice. The big jaw pokémon didn't seem to have heard him, and instead used whirlpool on blastoise. The shellfish pokémon played along, allowing itself to be spun around in the vortex of water before going in for another skull bash. _It can swim through the whirlpool?_ Niko thought, realizing at this moment that he had no chance. David was going to win.

These thoughts of losing continued to consume his thought processes as croconaw took hit after hit from blastoise, not showing much of a will to fight back either. Eventually, with a powerful hydro pump, the big jaw pokémon collapsed into the water behind it, defeated.

"Croconaw is unable to battle, blastoise wins! The victory goes to David, who will also participate in the final round of the tournament!" The judge declared.

"Wonderful match!" Goodshow shouted out. "That blastoise sure is powerful! Let's give David and Niko a round of applause!" Niko heard the crowd cheering, but he knew it wasn't for him nor croconaw. He returned his rogue pokémon and walked off the field and back into the stands, where his friends waited for him, with the exception of Elliot, who was healing his poliwrath in preparation for the final round.

Eventually the final round did come, and Goodshow seemed to be losing his mind from excitement. David and Elliot both took their places on opposite ends of the battlefield, awaiting the beginning of the match.

Elliot summoned poliwrath; David summoned blastoise. The match was on.

"Poliwrath, use cross chop!"

"Blastoise, push it back with hydro pump!"

The tadpole pokémon leapt through the air as usual, its arms glowing white and forming an "x" shape. However, poliwrath found itself halted in midair by the twin bursts of water emitting from blastoise's cannons. The blasts were powerful enough to not only halt poliwrath, but also cause it to cancel its move and fall backwards into the water.

"Blastoise, use skull bash!" David commanded, pointing to the poliwrath underwater.

"Poliwrath, mega punch!" Elliot retaliated. The two attacks collided, causing a shockwave through the water, causing small cracks in the walls of the pool. Poliwrath then used cross chop as blastoise was recovering from the attack, successfully landing the move and sending the shellfish pokémon backwards into the wall beneath its trainer.

David commanded yet another skull bash. Since it was underwater, blastoise proved to be much slower and thus less effective. Elliot took advantage of this, commanding a mega punch from poliwrath that sent blastoise hurdling out of the water, severely damaged at this point. The tadpole pokémon leapt out of the water and onto one of the platforms, ready to use mega punch once again to repel blastoise into the air, hopefully ending the match.

"Blastoise, skull bash!" David said. Elliot scoffed for a moment under his breath, realizing that poliwrath had the upper hand here, as long as it landed the mega punch.

However, he didn't consider the speed at which blastoise was moving as it descended back to the pool. It slammed into poliwrath, causing the platform under it to break. The two water types shot into the water at an incredible speed, nearly breaking the floor of the pool. Poliwrath, a little stunned by the move, attempted a mega punch but blastoise was faster—it used ice punch, freezing the water around it and socking poliwrath in the side of the face. It then used hydro pump to launch itself backwards out of the water, landing successfully on a platform nearby.

"Blastoise, finish it off with ice punch!" David commanded, realizing that this might be the final move.

"Poliwrath, cross chop!" Elliot said as poliwrath swam through the water to get closer to its opponent. It launched out of the water, arms crossed, and collided with blastoise, the two attacks hitting and dealing significant damage to each.

Both water types were repelled backwards with nearly equal force, slamming into the wall beneath the stands and collapsing onto the ground. Only one got up, but barely long enough for the judge to declare a winner.

"Poliwrath is unable to battle, and blastoise is the winner! The victory goes to David!" The judge declared.

"AND WE HAVE A WINNER FOLKS!" Goodshow announced through the microphone. "David is the winner of the second stage. Now, if you join me in looking up at the screen, we will have the total points added up from both stages."

Everyone turned their heads to look at the monitor, which showed point totals from the first stage being added to the second stage. The group only noticed the relevant ones:

David: 19

Elliot: 17

Brittany: 13

Niko: 12

JJ: 11

Fay: 10

Cody: 7

Jacob: 6

"And David is the overall winner of the Whirl Islands Tournament with a grand total of 19 points!" Goodshow said as he descended from his box to the battlefield, which was being quickly exchanged with a trophy stand, holding a golden cup in the shape of a whirlpool. Goodshow turns to David and Blastoise and presented the trophy to them. David gripped it with one hand and offered the shellfish pokémon to hold the other. They then raised the trophy into the air in a triumphant manner.

* * *

Niko sat in the main lobby of the stadium, waiting for his friends. They were off grabbing some lunch for the road, and he decided he needed some time alone. He sat in his seat looking at croconaw's pokéball. The road ahead was going to be difficult, especially with another gym battle only a day or two away. Luckily, Niko thought, he wouldn't have to use croconaw. The gym leader uses fighting types, one of them being a poliwrath, which Niko figured he might be able to use magnemite. This would make his match easier, he figured, and give him some time to figure out what to do about his croconaw.

Suddenly, he saw Brittany sitting down next to him, offering him a hot dog.

"Oh, thanks, Brittany," Niko said, taking a quick bite.

"JJ says we'll make it to Cianwood in the middle of the night if we don't stop for food or anything. We're surprisingly close."

"That's good to hear. By the way, congrats on getting third. That's incredible! You beat all of us. Well, except David and Elliot, but they're in their own league."

"Oh, psh! Niko you're in the same league as both of them! You got fourth!"

Niko shook his head. "Not with croconaw I'm not. I don't deserve that spot. Fay does. He earned it. I got lucky."

"No, no you didn't. You're a great trainer."

"Then explain why croconaw refused to listen to me? Explain why it gave up the will to battle against David?" Niko said, raising his voice. "That shouldn't have happened, but it did Brittany! And I let it happen!"

Brittany sighed. She realized it was no use arguing with Niko, at least while he was worked up like this. Hopefully he would calm down enough to eventually come to his senses. At least, she hoped he would.

JJ, Fay, Cody, and Jacob arrived in the lobby moments later, talking about something technical.

"Hey guys!" Jacob said happily, sitting on Niko's other side. "Thanks for hanging out with us these past couple of days. It's been a lot of fun!"

Niko smiled. "Yeah, guess so."

"Oh, cheer up man. You got fourth place!" Jacob said, patting him on the back.

"Yeah, hardly," Niko and Cody both said simultaneously. Jacob gave his friend a scolding look, and then turned back to Niko.

"Setbacks happen, you know? Don't worry about it! Anyways, Cody and I have to get going. There's a ferry that's taking people back to Olivine City. I think I saw Elliot getting on it earlier. Catch you guys later!"

"See ya Jacob! See ya Cody!" Fay called out after shaking the latter's hand. The two then made a sprint for the dock were the ferry was about to leave. He then turned to his friends. "Now, shall we head off?"

Niko and Brittany both stood up at the same time, turning to Fay and nodding. The group then proceeded towards the dock as well, JJ tossing out gyarados' pokéball. They packed their things atop the atrocious pokémon's back and began their journey to Cianwood City, where Niko and Fay would compete for their sixth Johto gym badge.


	31. Episode 31: The seer

**Episode 31: The seer**

The group arrived in Cianwood City around midnight later that day, and found themselves far more exhausted than they usually were, due to staying up later than usual, in addition to the multiple battles some of them had earlier that day during the Whirl Islands Tournament. During the ride, Niko and Fay decided that they would challenge the gym leader, Chuck, in the late afternoon of the following day, and plan to leave the City later in the evening or even the following morning, depending on how they felt.

Arriving into the pokémon center right after midnight, the group crashed in their beds almost immediately.

The following morning, Niko ended up waking up first, still in his clothes from the following day. He quickly showered and got dressed before going out of the pokémon center and taking a quick morning walk.

The past week was a rough one for Niko. First, he lost to Jasmine, the Olivine gym leader, and re-matched her, in which he won the second time. That was more expected, but he nonetheless felt bad about losing. Later on, along Route 41, Niko was furious at his totodile for struggling to learn whirlpool as fast as Fay's horsea, causing a rift not only between him and his pokémon, but also him and Fay. Finally, during the Whirl Islands Tournament, Niko kept pushing totodile, ultimately triggering its evolution. While in normal cases this would have been an improvement, in fact croconaw now refuses to listen to its trainer. Niko arrived at Cianwood with a fractured relationship with his pokémon and a slightly less torn relationship with Fay, one of his closest friends.

He considered this as he walked along the beach, peering out into the ocean and seeing what looked like the Whirl Islands off in the distance, although he might have just been imagining it.

Arriving at the pokémon center minutes later, he noticed JJ and Brittany were up and serving breakfast to their pokémon. Fay was at the telecomputer returning his gyarados back to Pallet Town, having fed it the previous night. He returned shortly after, greeting Niko as he sat down next to him in their usual booth.

"So, JJ," Fay began, turning to his curly-haired friend. "We've got a couple hours to kill, what do you want to do today? Brittany?"

JJ pulled out his pamphlet and examined it for a moment. "Cianwood doesn't seem to have much. It's a relatively isolated part of the region, actually, and so there isn't much to do for tourists. Although…there's a berry maker, a seer, a photographer, and a healer. So, I guess there are some things."

"We should go check out that photographer!" Brittany suggested. "We haven't had the chance to take a group picture, so maybe we could do that?"

"I kinda want to check out this seer, too," JJ mentioned. "What do you guys think?"

Niko and Fay turned to each other and shrugged. "Guess so, the only thing we can here for is the gym. I'm down for whatever, actually," Niko said. Fay concurred with a nod.

With that said, the group finished up their meal and went off to explore the city. They quickly found the photographer's studio on the western edge of town. Walking in, they saw a young couple and their pikachu paying for what looked like a small photo album. As the man behind the cash register finished, he looked up at the group of four and motioned them over.

"Welcome to Cameron's photo shop! I'm Cameron, and how may I help you?" He asked. Cameron was a tall blond haired man with an orange sweatshirt that made him look like he didn't belong near a coastal city.

"Hi Cameron. I'm Brittany, and this is JJ, Fay, and Niko. We would just like to get a group photo, and maybe individual ones of our pokémon teams. Would that be possible?"

"Oh, well sure Brittany! I would love to! Now, would you guys like to do them inside or outside?"

"Preferably outside, maybe near the water?" Brittany suggested. Cameron nodded thoughtfully as he went to grab his rather large camera. Moments later he was quickly motioning his new customers out of the door and towards the ocean.

"Alright you guys, let's just get one of the trainers first. There you go…hey blondie," Cameron said, motioning JJ to get closer to Fay. "That's it…alright, there ya go!" The camera snapped with a flash of light. Cameron did this a couple more times, just to make sure he got it right. "Excellent!" He said, looking at the pictures in the camera. "I took a few, we can have you look at them later. Now, you said you wanted to get shots with you and your pokémon?" Brittany nodded. "Great! Who's first?"

Brittany went first, summoning wartortle, tangela, and pichu. She held pichu in her arms while wartortle and tangela flanked her from both sides. Next was JJ, who has chikorita in his arms and was flanked by umbreon and growlithe, both of whom were sitting down. Beedrill hovered in the back, slightly shy of the camera.

Fay went next, with quilava sitting in front of him with sudowoodo and flaaffy flanking him, and teddiursa standing next to quilava. Sudowoodo tried to ignore the camera, instead more interested in some of the rocks randomly placed nearby. In fact, one of the photos was of sudowoodo in mid-sprint towards the rocks. Fay facepalmed, waiting for the imitation pokémon to get the rock-kicking out of its system before they began to take a good quality shot.

Niko went last. He had hoothoot resting on his right shoulder, yanma hovering behind his left, croconaw standing to his right, and magnemite resting in his arms. It was the first time he found himself smiling since right before they left the Whirl Islands.

Back at the studio, Cameron printed out the photos and showed them to each trainer in turn, letting them and their pokémon choose the best one to purchase. Once they were all done, Cameron gathered the four trainers around to choose their favorite group shot. After finally paying for them, they decided to head back into the city in search of the seer's house, the location that JJ had decided to visit while touring Cianwood.

After what seemed like forever, they eventually reached the seer's house up in the northernmost part of the city. It was a run-down old wooden house. There were poor attempts at gardens littering the front yard. As the group walked up the porch, they heard a loud creaking sound. After a moment of gathering up some courage, JJ knocked on the door.

An old woman answered. She looked old enough to be their great-grandmother. Her dark silver hair was flowing across her arched back and down her front-side. She wore sunglasses, likely to indicate that she might be blind, however, due to her ability to answer the door that theory was thrown into question.

"Hello?" the woman asked with a soft, yet firm voice.

"Oh, hi. My name is JJ. We're touring Cianwood and were interested in checking out the seer."

"Ah, I see. Well, at my age I'm not entirely sure I have anything worth checking out," The seer said wryly, smiling slightly at her own joke.

"Tha-that's not what I uh meant, ma'am. _Are_ you the seer?"

"Yes I am, young man. What do you want?"

"Well, I'm not really uh sure…" JJ said, turning to his friends for assistance. Niko and Fay shrugged their shoulders; they were of no help.

"We would all be interested in seeing what our future holds," Brittany said, saving JJ from embarrassment.

"Heh, that's usually what people, especially young people, visit me for. Come on in, I'll grab you some tea."

The group slowly walked in, confused as to how a potentially blind old woman could go prepare tea. They approached what seemed to be some sort of living room, complete with two long couches and two armchairs, on which a meowth was laying down, fast asleep. JJ went over to pet the meowth, but only got a hiss and a threatening scratch instead.

"Oh don't mind Mr. Snuggles. He's shy around strangers," The seer said as she brought a tray of teacups, returning a minute later with a teapot.

She sat down and stared at the four trainers, all taking up space on the long couch opposite her. "Now, you want to see what your future holds, I take it?" They all nodded. "Of course. Now, the way this works is that I will read your palms with my fingers, one by one, and tell you what I see. It's a rather simple process, but people seem to make a bigger deal of it than they should. Now, who would like to go first?"

The group looked at each other, unsure of how they wanted to approach this. Eventually Brittany stood up, approaching the other couch and sitting next to the seer, holding her palm out.

The seer sat there for a moment, staring at nothing in particular, running her long, wiry fingers along the creases in Brittany's soft palm. After a couple of minutes, the seer finally spoke.

"It seems that you will encounter unrequited love with both a stranger and a friend. Your success in life will be decided by this love, but will slowly diminish once you have found true happiness. With your happiness, your success will follow."

Brittany stared at her for a moment, unsure of what to make of this. The seer released her hand, and Brittany stood up and walked back to the couch. Fay was next. As he sat down next to the seer, she slowly began to read his palms, which were slightly rougher than Brittany's. Almost at once the seer began to speak.

"Success is no difficult feat for you. At the moment that you face your greatest rival, in some ways your opposite, you will discover the calling of your life."

Fay nodded, silently getting up once the seer removed his hand. JJ was next. He slowly, but nervously, surrendered his palm to the seer. She took some time reading his future, but nonetheless spoke rather quickly.

"You will find love in the least likely places; you will see your dream crushed once, maybe twice, but once you realize your talents, you will find that success is also no difficult feat for you."

JJ, looking confused, and feeling like his future has already occurred, stood up and made way for Niko, who went last. The seer read his palm, and took a couple minutes before finally speaking.

"You will encounter great difficulties in the coming years, all of which will be to test you for your true calling in life. Real love will find its way to you, as you are unable to seek it for yourself. At the crossroads of love and success, your destiny will reveal itself."

Niko sat there, wondering what this meant. _What exactly is my 'true calling?' Is this issue with croconaw one of my 'great difficulties?'_

He stood up, walking back over to sit at the end of the couch next to JJ. The seer then turned to them, looking rather pleased with herself.

"So, are we all satisfied?" The seer asked, still a smile on her face.

"More like confused," JJ said.

"Well, here's a hint, then, that might help clear things up. The future is for you to decide, not me. All I can read are possibilities of your futures. You alone make the choices that ultimately set you on the path to achieving your destiny."

The four trainers looked up with bemused expressions. This seer pretty much denounced her own work!

"Wait…so you're saying that everything you just told us that we can completely disregard?" Niko asked in wonder.

"Well, yes and no. I merely give you things to consider. But again, you will ultimately make the choices, not me, and not your palms. Most seers and psychics will charge you stupid amounts of money to tell you these same things, but it's all rubbish really."

"Then why do you do this?" Brittany asked.

"Oh, because I like meeting new people. I mainly get tourists, as I am the only licensed seer in the Johto region. People from all over Johto, and even around the world, come to me with hopes of seeing images of their future. I tell them, and they believe everything I say usually, oftentimes without a second thought as to whether or not they might be correct. But, I just like meeting people. I find it fascinating to see different kinds of personalities and livelihoods. Plus, at my age I don't really have much else to do, as I find it difficult to travel much anymore. That's also why I'm not charging you—I don't really need the cash anymore."

"Wow…" Fay finally said, still looking confused. "Thanks for the tips. They definitely help."

"Do they?" The seer asked, raising an eyebrow. Fay nodded, assuring both himself and the seer that her future-telling did indeed enlighten him a little. "Well, I'm glad that I could be of some help. Now, best of luck in your futures. Don't worry about making the right or wrong choices; they all add up to the right one in the end."

The group each thanked the seer in turn before heading out of the house. Checking his watch, JJ noted that it was around midday, and that they could grab some lunch before heading off to the gym, which was on the other end of the city, naturally. As they had lunch at a pizza shop, they all sat in relative silence, each pondering what the seer told them, and all still confused by the time they arrived at the gym for Niko and Fay's sixth gym battle.


	32. Episode 32: Three's a crowd!

**Episode 32: Three's a crowd!**

The Cianwood City gym was much like Bruno's fighting dojo back in Saffron City, only instead of rows of exercise machines and punching bags, there was a battlefield in the middle with punching bags and large concrete blocks littered along the edges. There weren't even stands—just two sets of benches running along the center of each side.

As the group walked in, they saw a middle-aged man wearing only white sweatpants and a black belt training with a primeape and a poliwrath by moving the large concrete blocks across the width of the gym and back. Eventually, he noticed the group standing in the doorway.

"Ah! Guys, looks like we have challengers!" He said, tightening his belt. "Now! Who might you kids be!?"

"I'm Fay, and this is Niko. We're both from Pallet Town in Kanto, and we're here to challenge your gym!"

"Ah! I see! Well, you've come to the right place! My name is Chuck, and I am the Cianwood City gym leader! Would you both wish to challenge me!?" Fay and Niko nodded. "Very well! Who will go first!?"

Niko stepped forward, as Fay had gone first at the Olivine City gym. Chuck smirked as he and his two pokémon approached the opposite end of the gym.

"This will be a two-vs-two gym match, got it!?" Niko once again nodded without much emotion in his expression. "Excellent. My wife will act as the judge. Honey!" Chuck yelled out as a woman roughly the same age came hurrying to the battlefield, grabbing her rather long dress at its sides. Chuck smiled warmly as his wife turned to face him, nodding and smiling in return. "Thank you, honey. Now, Niko, we will start whenever you're ready. I will be using primeape first."

"Alright then, hoothoot I choose you!" Niko cried out, summoning his owl pokémon. Primeape looked upwards at its opponent, looking ready to fight. "Hoothoot, use peck!"

"As expected! Primeape! Use karate chop!"

"Hoothoot, dodge and go in for peck!" Niko commanded, editing his command at the last moment. Hoothoot obeyed, skillfully dodging the attack and ramming its beak into primeape's head, causing the pig monkey pokémon to cry out in pain. It then used karate chop, swiping at its opponent as it attempted to escape. Hoothoot fell onto the ground.

"Now use fury swipes!" Chuck commanded, tightening his belt as if he figured that the battle would be quickly over. Primeape rushed at hoothoot, its fists furiously jabbing in front of it. The owl pokémon quickly got back into the air, flying upwards vertically before using take down on top of primeape's head.

To avoid the recoil damage, hoothoot tried to slide off of primeape's back, landing successfully on the ground as the pig monkey pokémon nursed its bruised head. Both pokémon then turned to face one another. For a moment their eyes were locked, as if primeape was attempting to use leer. Suddenly, however, primeape collapsed onto the ground, asleep.

"What!?" Niko and Chuck both said, shocked at what just happened.

"Is it…asleep?" Brittany asked, turning to Fay on her left. He nodded, watching intently. "How…?"

"Hoothoot can learn hypnosis, I think. Not sure where it developed this ability, since Niko never mentioned that he was trying to teach it. Guess it just comes naturally?" Fay said, shrugging his shoulders. Brittany nodded, continuing to watch the battle.

Niko took little time to get back to reality. "Hoothoot, use take down again, and follow up with peck!" Realizing that his owl pokémon was likely to take more damage from recoil as a result of this, he figured that it was still to his advantage to take the risk. Hoothoot flew up into the air and slammed back onto the sleeping primeape and followed by pecking it repeatedly in the head. The pig monkey eventually woke up, largely from the shock of the multiple pecks, but quickly got on its feet and hurled a series of punches at hoothoot who, exhausted from the take down, took the fury swipes and collapsed back onto the ground.

"Hoothoot! Get up! Use peck!" Niko cried out. The owl pokémon struggled initially to stand back up, but when it did it felt a sudden rush of energy, and burst forward at primeape.

"Primeape! Use karate chop!" Chuck shouted, tightening his belt once again. The pig monkey pokémon's hand began to glow white as it prepared to slam it down on the owl pokémon. Hoothoot then dodged the move and shoved its beak into primeape's face with enough force to cause it to lose its balance. Primeape staggered for a moment before allowing itself to find balance. As it prepared to use another karate chop, hoothoot used peck one final time, dodging the chop and shoving its beak once more into the pig monkey's face.

Primeape then fell forward. "Primeape is unable to battle, hoothoot wins! Leader Chuck will now use his second pokémon!"

Chuck turned to his poliwrath, nodding. The tadpole pokémon stepped forward, mimicking a belt-tightening gesture just like its trainer.

Niko too stood firm. He had experience fighting poliwrath. "Hoothoot, use hypnosis!"

"Poliwrath, close your eyes and avoid it!" Chuck shouted out. The tadpole pokémon nodded, quickly shutting its eyes and negating the hypnosis to work. Chuck smirked. "It won't be that easy to defeat me Niko! Poliwrath, use dynamicpunch!"

Poliwrath lunged forward with incredible speed—not like Elliot's poliwrath, but fast enough—to nearly hit its opponent. Hoothoot evaded at the last second, causing the tadpole to crash into the ground. It then turned around immediately and used take down, once again slamming the fighting type onto the gym's wooden floor.

Before an exhausted hoothoot to back up, poliwrath turned around and grabbed onto hoothoot's talon and slammed the flying type into the ground with unbelievable force, causing a slight crack in the floor.

"Hoothoot is unable to battle, poliwrath wins! Niko will now send out his second pokémon!"

Niko, without hesitation, summoned his next pokémon. "Magnemite, I choose you!"

"Why magnemite?" JJ wondered. "You'd think maybe yanma would fare better here. Magnemite is weak to fighting type moves…"

"Niko has a plan, I think. Plus, magnemite didn't get a chance to fight in Olivine City, so maybe he's making up for it," Brittany said, shrugging as she spoke.

"Magnemite, use thunderwave!" Niko commanded, gesturing his hand forward. The magnet pokémon charged up its thunderwave and quickly unleashed it, catching poliwrath in the process. The tadpole pokémon cringed slightly from the shock of the attack and found it difficult to move. Again, Niko took advantage of this opening. "Use thundershock!"

Magnemite charged up more electricity, and shot it in a focused direction towards poliwrath. The attack, hit, as did each other in succession, causing poliwrath to collapse onto the ground, still stunned.

"Now magnemite, use sonicboom!" Niko shouted out. Magnemite nodded, hearing its trainer's command and remembering what it had learned from watching yanma produce the attack. It spun around rapidly, charging up energy for when it unleashed the move in nearly every direction. The group had to hold on to their bench from the force of the attack. Chuck, Niko, and poliwrath all braced themselves as the blast struck them. "Magnemite! Great job buddy! You did…it?"

Niko paused, watching magnemite beginning to glow. The whole room was engulfed in the bright light of evolution as magnemite grew to three times its own size, resulting in the new pokémon, magneton.

"Wow…magnemite…?" Niko asked, pulling out his pokédex:

" _Magneton, the magnet pokémon. Electric and steel type. Three magnemite are linked by a strong magnetic force. Earaches will occur if you get too close_."

"Well," Niko said, looking up at his new pokémon. "Looks like I'm in for some earaches then!"

"Heh, well Niko, you might be," Chuck said, tightening his belt. "But for now, you're in for a defeat! Poliwrath, use dynamicpunch!"

The tadpole pokémon rushed forward, its hand glowing as it slammed into magneton, causing the electric type to crash deep into the ground.

"And now use hypnosis!" Chuck commanded.

"Not so fast! Magneton, thunderwave!"

Before poliwrath's hypnosis took effect, magneton unleashed a close range thunderwave attack that hit the poliwrath, stunning it momentarily.

"Now magneton! Finish it off with sonicboom!" Niko commanded, his voice rising higher. Magneton hovered back into the air and, after spinning around, unleashed a more focused sonicboom, knocking poliwrath backwards and into Chuck. The two fell backwards onto the concrete ground of the gym.

"Poliwrath is unable to battle, magneton wins!" Chuck's wife declared. "The winner is Niko from Pallet Town!"

For a moment, Niko shed a tear. His magnemite, the one he found on the side of the road and had difficulty battling anything. The one that wanted, clearly more than anything, to join him in his journeys in Johto. Of all of his pokémon, magnemite—now magneton—had proven him wrong. In that moment, Niko could not have been prouder.

And he showed it when he embraced magneton, a couple more tears falling down his face.

"Magneton…I'm so, _so_ proud of you. I want you to know that. You did a great job today."

Magneton smiled as well. It too was proud.

Chuck and poliwrath got up and walked away to heal up before the battle with Fay. Meanwhile, the group all praised magneton for its newfound ability and its evolution, which was instrumental in granting Niko his newest gym badge. Moments later, however, Chuck was back, and Fay was ready for him.

"Are you ready Fay!?" Chuck said, as animated as he been before battling Niko. Fay nodded, holding out his first pokémon. "Alright then! Primeape, you're up! Make me proud!"

"Quilava, let's go!" Fay shouted, throwing out his pokéball summoning his fire type. "Use flame wheel!"

"Primeape, use fury swipes!"

Quilava, being faster, was able to rush at primeape and land her attack before the latter was even midway across the field. Her body aflame, quilava slammed into the pig monkey pokémon and knocked it backwards. The volcano pokémon landed on the other side of its opponent, the flames disappearing.

Primeape got up and a back towards its opponent, but Fay and quilava expected it. The latter turned around and shot a series of embers at primeape, who blocked its face from the attack and, once the embers disappeared, unleashed a heavy round of fury swipes on quilava, who tried dodging the aggressive series of punches, but only succeeded at first before getting hit once and taking the rest of them in rapid succession.

"Quilava, use smokescreen!" Fay commanded, taking back the reins of the battle. The volcano pokémon blew out a thick cloud of smoke and disappearing into it. Once it dissipated, primeape turned around, trying to discover where quilava had gone to. "Now!"

From primeape's left quilava burst forward with flame wheel, slamming into the pig monkey and knocking it across the battlefield, nearly breaking one of the benches and landing against one of the punching bags.

"Primeape is unable to battle, quilava wins! Leader Chuck will now send out his second pokémon!" Chuck's wife declared.

Chuck turned to poliwrath again, nodding as the tadpole pokémon stepped forward.

"Poliwrath! Use surf!" Chuck shouted out. The fighting type summoned a wave of water (literally out of nowhere) and rode it towards quilava, who clearly was not expecting the attack. The volcano pokémon, on Fay's orders, used smokescreen and made a run for it near the punching bags and concrete blocks, avoiding the attack altogether. Once Chuck and poliwrath noticed this, quilava was already rushing back with flame wheel. The two pokémon made contact just as poliwrath gripped quilava by the throat and slammed it into the ground as it had done with hoothoot earlier. Before it could use dynamicpunch, however, quilava unleashed a weak series of ember attacks at the tadpole pokémon's face, causing it to lose its grip and back away, flicking off the embers.

"Quilava now! Use flame wheel!" Fay commanded.

"Poliwrath, use dynamicpunch!" Chuck said, tightening his belt. As quilava jumped at its opponent, she met a powerful fist that slammed her back into the ground, defeated.

"Quilava is unable to battle, poliwrath wins! Fay will now send out his second pokémon!" Chuck's wife declared.

"Alright flaaffy, you're up!" Fay said, summoning his electric type. "Use thunderwave!"

"Not this again! Poliwrath, hypnosis!" Chuck told his pokémon, who succeeded in quickly putting the wool pokémon to sleep, who was not as fast at using thunderwave as its friend magneton was. Flaaffy collapsed face forward into the ground. "Now, use surf!"

Poliwrath summoned more water out of nowhere and jumped on the wave it created. However, neither Chuck nor poliwrath knew much about flaaffy. Despite it being asleep, its wool was still electrified. Once the water made contact with the wool, conducting the electricity inside it, the battlefield exploded, forcing poliwrath backwards and crashing into the ground in front of Chuck. It also managed, unsurprisingly, to wake flaaffy up.

"Well, didn't see that coming," Fay said, shrugging. "But I'm not going to complain. Flaaffy, use thundershock!"

The wool pokémon took advantage of poliwrath's inability to move much, as the explosion had stunned it, and unleashed a series of thundershocks that further debilitated it. It then rushed forward to tackle the tadpole pokémon when the latter finally recovered its ability to move and used dynamicpunch, sending flaaffy hurtling backwards across the battlefield.

Poliwrath, severely weakened at this point, stumbled forward as flaaffy also struggled to get up on its own. Both pokémon stared each other down for a moment, almost afraid of making any close-combat move. Fay and Chuck both felt the same. The battle stood in stalemate for a minute or so while each trainer considered their next move (and also allow their pokémon to rest).

"Flaaffy, use thundershock!"

"Poliwrath, hypnosis!"

Flaaffy, learning from its mistakes the second time, closed its eyes as it unleashed a series of thundershocks, all aimed directly at poliwrath. The tadpole pokémon took the attacks, only to find itself too weak to endure them. It collapsed, face-forward, defeated.

"Poliwrath is unable to battle, flaaffy wins! The victory goes to Fay from Pallet Town!" Chuck's wife declared.

Fay walked over as flaaffy collapsed onto the ground, the damage from dynamicpunch taking its toll. He held the wool pokémon in his arms, thanking it for the fight, as his friends, Chuck, and the judge all joined him near the center of the field.

"Niko! Fay!" Chuck said, still shouting like usual. "Both of you have earned the storm badge for defeating me and my pokémon! Congratulations!" Chuck held out two badges in the shape of a fist. They took them and thanked Chuck for the battle as they left the gym for the pokémon center.

"Well, today was quite the day, wasn't it?" JJ said, "Got photos taken, saw a seer, got our futures told to us, and Niko and Fay are one badge closer to the Silver Conference!"

"Yeah, now you only have two left, right?" Brittany asked.

"Looks like it," Fay said, putting the storm badge in his case alongside the other five. "Only Mahogany and Blackthorn left, right?"

JJ nodded as he pulled out the map and pamphlet. "Yep. Mahogany is the closest, but it's still a long ways away. It's like a week east of Ecruteak."

"Damn…" Niko said, sipping on a soda. "That's…gonna be quite the journey then. How long will it take to get to Ecruteak? A couple weeks?"

JJ nodded again. "Yeah, something like that. If we take the ferry to Olivine it'll be a couple days shorter, but still, it'll be a long journey. Nearly a month, actually. But hey, the next gym leader, Pryce, uses ice types. So that shouldn't be too bad, right? You both have the advantage there."

"That's true. I have a rock and fire type. And Niko has a steel type," Fay said, nodding to his friend. Niko nodded in return, smiling out of the corner of his mouth.

"Now, I think we could take the ferry tomorrow morning at eight. Sound good?" The rest of the group nodded, and JJ made a quick note to himself. They spent the rest of their time in Cianwood taking in the sights of the ocean. Once they got to Olivine City, it would be quite some time before they saw it again.


	33. Episode 33: Lessons in the dark type

**Episode 33: Lessons in the dark type**

The road to Mahogany Town, and Niko and Fay's seventh gym badge, would take close to a month, according to JJ. First, they had to take a ferry from Cianwood to Olivine City. From there, they would walk from Olivine to Mahogany by way of Ecruteak City, which would mark their halfway point between the two cities.

The ferry ride to Olivine took a couple of days, landing the group in Olivine in the evening. There, they stayed at the pokémon center for the night and stocked up on supplies the following morning before heading out on Routes 39 and 38.

During this time, Niko and Fay spent more time training. Niko wanted to get hoothoot to learn more moves, and so after consulting his pokédex on possible moves it could learn, Niko eventually decided on teaching it steel wing. He noticed how Elliot's scizor used it to great effect and, with the knowledge that the next gym would be ice type, figured this would be the perfect move to learn. He also started to get magneton to learn thunderbolt. One would think that this particular move wouldn't be difficult, and for the magnet pokémon, whose evolution gave it far more confidence in itself, learning thunderbolt wasn't. The hard part was controlling it. Niko certainly regretted trying to work on it while on the ferry. Niko spent some time with yanma, but focused more on increasing its speed. He tried once to get croconaw to listen to him, but the big jaw pokémon refused to still. As a result, Niko didn't take it out of the pokéball much at all, other than to feed it.

Fay, on the other hand, was busy training flaaffy and teddiursa. The little bear hadn't gotten much battle time recently, and so he figured he would train it up enough to be of significant help in the next gym battle. Specifically, he was working on teaching the little bear pokémon the move slash. It seemed to get it eventually, and in a practice match against JJ's umbreon while on Route 39, seemed to do quite well.

"Great job, teddiursa," Fay said as he knelt down on one knee to praise his bear pokémon. Teddiursa smiled warmly, clearly proud of itself.

"You did great Fay!" JJ said as he patted umbreon on the back of the head, rubbing his palm against the moonlight pokémon's fur. Umbreon purred softly.

"Thanks JJ. Umbreon put up quite a fight there, actually."

"Yeah, we try. Right, umbreon?" JJ asked. Umbreon responded by continuing to purr.

JJ had been doing some training of his own. He really wanted to get chikorita to learn razor leaf, but was still finding difficulty in doing so. The leaf pokémon didn't much like battling, even against pokémon that it was of similar strength with, like Brittany's pichu. Nonetheless, JJ did regular exercising with his team of pokémon, running with them, working on evasion exercises, almost as if he were trying to challenge the gyms just like his friends were. Brittany would usually join in with him, training her wartortle, tangela, and pichu as well. Pichu seemed to enjoy battling, albeit not as often as, say, wartortle did, but enough to put up a fight and not run away from a challenge.

One afternoon, after they had finished up lunch and a training session, they walked by a building that they must have missed on their first pass by this route. Walking up to it, they noticed it read "Elite 4 Training Facility" on a sign at the front.

"Elite 4…Training Facility…?" Niko re-read the sign.

"No idea," Fay replied. "Wanna check it out?"

"Sure," Niko said, "Couldn't hurt to try, right?"

They walked in and noticed the building was deserted. There was a main lobby with a reception desk, but it didn't seem like anyone was manning it. They slowly walked up to the desk to get a better look. Still, no one. Then they each turned to the hallways to their left and right. A minute later, they saw a woman emerge from one of the doors on the right side.

She was a young woman who looked to be in her mid-twenties. She had silvery-blue hair that matched her eyes quite nicely, and a yellow and black crop top with white crop top pants. She completed her look with shiny yellow high heels. She looked up from her cellphone to notice the four trainers standing in front of her.

"Err…May I help you kids?" She asked in an oddly sultry tone.

"Who're you calling kids!?" Brittany asked bitterly.

"Oh, I'm sorry little girl. My apologies. It isn't becoming of a member of the Elite 4 to talk down to trainers."

"You're a member of the Elite 4?" Niko asked from behind a fuming Brittany.

The woman nodded. "Of course I am. Did you not read the sign?"

"Well, we did. We just thought…"

"Thought that there would be more people here? It's new, that's why. Anyways, what are you four doing here?"

"Just checking the place out on our way to Mahogany Town," Niko responded.

"Oh, I see. Going to challenge Pryce?"

"Ye-yeah. How'd you…?"

"Know? Kid, people don't usually go to Mahogany Town for vacation. The only thing even remotely interesting about that town is the Lake of Rage, which is north of it."

"Well, I suppose…"

"Anyways I should probably introduce myself. I'm Karen of the Johto Elite 4."

"Well, hi Karen. I'm Niko, and these are my friends, Fay, Brittany, and JJ."

"Pleased to meet you all. Is there anything that I can do for you?

"Not that I can think of…" Niko said before being interrupted.

"What type do you specialize in?" JJ said, interrupting his friend.

"Oh. Dark types. I find their wild, tough image to be so…appealing. And they're so…strong. I'm very good with the dark type. I'm one of the only trainers in both Johto and Kanto that not only specializes in them, but succeeds at it."

"Are dark types difficult to train?" JJ wondered, having a dark type of his own.

"They can be. Dark types are, well, different. They aren't difficult to train in the same way dragon types are. They just take more time to train. They also don't have as large of a move pool as, say, water or fire types do. At least, not as many offensive moves. It takes time, and patience, to fully train a dark type."

"Do you think you could give me some pointers, then?" JJ asked. "My eevee recently evolved into an umbreon, and I'm not sure how exactly to go about training it."

"Oh, umbreon…I have one of those. It's my favorite dark type, actually. But, seeing as I don't have much to do until my date in Olivine tonight…sure, why not," Karen said, smirking a little as she eyed JJ.

Karen led the group out to the back of the facility, where there was a normal-sized battlefield. "I'd like you to watch my umbreon in battle. Would one of your friends like to challenge me instead?"

"Sure…why not," Niko said, walking to one end of the field to face the Elite 4 member. "Yanma, I choose you!"

Karen smirked again with a rather sultry smile. "Umbreon, let's go!" She yelled as she summoned the moonlight pokémon. "Now…JJ, was it? I'm going to show you a move called faint attack. Have you umbreon watch as I use the move. Umbreon, faint attack!"

"Yanma, use sonicboom!" Niko commanded as the clear wing pokémon unleashed a powerful wave of sonic energy at its opponent.

However, umbreon simply evaded the blast as if it were nothing, and disappeared into thin air.

"Huh…?" Niko asked as he and yanma looked around. Umbreon was completely gone.

"Now!" Karen shouted as umbreon reappeared from yanma's left and whacked the bug type with its tail. "Did you catch that, JJ and umbreon? The nice thing about faint attack is that it never misses, as long as the opponent doesn't use anything like protect or detect."

"Could you show me that again actually?" JJ asked. "I guess umbreon and I would like to see it done now that we know what to look for."

"No problem. Niko, right? Still want to keep going?"

"Absolutely. It isn't often that I get to challenge an Elite 4 member," Niko said, smirking a little too. Even though Karen was tough—almost as tough as Agatha or Lance—he was starting to enjoy it a little. Maybe it was because he had complete faith in yanma to do its best, or that this was simply a demonstrative battle. Whatever it was, though, it made Niko feel good.

"Heh, alright then. Umbreon, use faint attack again!"

"Yanma…" Niko whispered to his bug type. "We know what to expect this time. Brace yourself for the attack, since it never misses. Use double team!"

Yanma duplicated itself nearly a dozen times. Karen and umbreon didn't seem to have a problem with this, however. The dark type pokémon instead reappeared and disappeared multiple times, defeating each yanma copy one at a time. It eventually got to the real one and, after evading a powerful sonicboom, disappeared and immediately reappeared behind yanma, whacking it with its tail once more.

"…wow…" JJ said, mouth wide open. Karen turned to him and umbreon.

"That's what you can do once you're skilled enough. It's a really good move for any dark type to know. Hell, it's a good move for _any_ pokémon to know, provided that they are actually able to learn it. Now, JJ, would you like to try?"

JJ turned to umbreon, who stood up and nodded. "Sure, let's do this."

The curly blonde trainer switched places with Niko as he stepped onto the field with his own dark type pokémon. "Remember what you saw, umbreon. We can do this."

"If it's okay with you, JJ, I think I'm going to switch my pokémon. Give you a sense of the real power of dark types. Houndoom, I choose you!" Karen commanded. Out of her pokéball erupted a tall canine pokémon with black fur and an orange underbelly. Around its neck is a white bang with a small skull-shaped pendant on its throat. Brittany pulled out her pokédex:

" _Houndoom, the dark pokémon. Dark and fire type. The pungent-smelling flame that shoots from its mouth results from toxins burning in its body_."

"Umbreon, let's try using faint attack!" JJ commanded. The moonlight pokémon nodded, rushing forward, imagining itself disappear. It did so, but only momentarily, as it reappeared just in front of houndoom.

"Close, but no dice. Houndoom, use faint attack!" Karen commanded. The dark pokémon disappeared and instantly reappeared to umbreon's side, headbutting it and knocking it several feet away. "I understand it's hard to get into the mindset of disappearing. Think about it this way: using faint attack is like sneaking up on an opponent. That's the whole point of the disappearing act. You want to act as though you are moving _through_ darkness itself. Imagine that you and your opponent are in a place where there is no light and, as a dark type, you are naturally accustomed to the darkness. Since your opponent can't see in the dark—usually—it allows you to strike them from where they will least expect it. Try again. Houndoom, standby."

JJ nodded, soaking in the information. He looked to umbreon, who had by now returned to its spot in front of its trainer and also seemed to be contemplating Karen's explanation. The moonlight pokémon closed its eyes for a moment, only opening them immediately before disappearing.

"Wait for it, houndoom…" Karen said softly, looking around for possible locations umbreon could come from.

JJ also looked around, himself unsure of the positioning of his dark type. Eventually umbreon reappeared, this time above houndoom. It slammed into the dark pokémon with its tail, whacking it atop its opponent's head. It then bounced off and landed on all fours.

"Excellent job!" Karen said, giving JJ a golf-clap in celebration. "It seems like you're getting it. Now, try again."

They repeated this for the next couple of minutes, with umbreon and houndoom each exchanging attacks. Eventually, umbreon wore itself out, panting heavily.

"Alright, that's enough. I think you're getting the hang of it. Now, if any of your friends ever want to learn this move, they also know how."

She turned to the rest of the group, smirking again, houndoom at her side. "Strong pokémon. Weak pokémon. That is only the selfish perception of people. Truly skilled trainers should seek to win with the pokémon they love the most. Niko, JJ, you are great battlers. I like your style. I hope that in whatever it is you choose to do in life that you will succeed."

"Thanks, Karen," Niko said, standing up to shake the Elite 4 member's hand. Karen returned it lightly.

"Anytime. And I understand that you're going to Mahogany Town, right? Well, don't underestimate Pryce. He looks absolutely ancient, but he is far more skilled in battling than he gives off. You'd do well to train as much as possible before that battle."

With that, Karen escorted JJ and Niko to their facility's healing station, where umbreon and yanma sat while Karen made small talk with the group. Turns out she is one of the more senior members of the Johto Elite 4, where seniority is determined by strength and not age or years of experience. This didn't surprise any of them, after noticing how powerful her dark types were. They also learned that the reason the facility was so empty was that because it hasn't even opened yet. Karen was there to check out the facility before opening it up to the rest of the Elite 4 and later the public, hence why the door was also unlocked.

After half an hour of talking, Karen set off south towards Olivine City, while the group continued northeast towards Ecruteak. With a new move in mind, and renewed confidence in their abilities, the group continued on their journey.


	34. Episode 34: Return to Ecruteak City!

**Episode 34: Return to Ecruteak City!**

The group eventually returned to Ecruteak City after a week's worth of travelling. They were on their way to Mahogany Town, where Niko and Fay would compete for their seventh gym badge in Johto. Along the way, they've managed to meet a member of the Johto Elite 4, the dark type specialist Karen. Since this encounter, in which JJ's umbreon learned faint attack, the group continued their training day after day. By the time they reached Ecruteak City, they were exhausted. It was late, and they decided to head first to the pokémon center to get some shut-eye before stocking up on supplies the following day, and then picking up on their journey to Mahogany Town.

It was early in the morning when Niko woke up. His legs were sore; more than usual actually. Because of this, getting up seemed to be harder than usual. After stretching for a couple of minutes, he went to shower and get dressed as his three friends slowly awoke in turn. Once everyone was ready, they returned their pokémon to their pokéballs (since they usually slept with their trainers) and went to grab breakfast.

"So we've just got some supply shopping to do while we're here?" Niko asked as he bit into a piece of bacon.

"Yeah, I can't think of much else, actually," Fay responded rather quietly, also biting into some bacon. The other two—Brittany and JJ—were quiet most of the time sipping their coffee. It was clear that everyone was tired from the long trip. Usually they were pretty good about long stretches of time without a proper bed or quality meals, but this in particular felt unusually exhausting for each of them.

Niko, noticing the relative exhaustion in each of his friends, suggested that they take this day to rest. Unsurprisingly, no one seemed to object, and they spent most of their morning in the pokémon center making small conversation and deciding on what they wanted to do that day. Ecruteak City is one of the more important cities in the Johto region, from a historical point that is. In their last visit to the city, they spent some time exploring the Burned Tower, where the three legendary beasts were said to reside. There they met the gym leader, Morty, and his partner, Eusine, both of whom did research, as a hobby and professionally, on the legends in Johto. They proposed going to see the two again, but figured that they should at least get their shopping done first before anything else, in the event that they get sidetracked.

An hour or two later, once they left the pokémart, they heard some police vehicles blaring by, arcanines running at full speed alongside them.

"I wonder what's up with them," Niko asked as he turned to his right to watch them disappear down another block.

"No idea, maybe some gang fight?" JJ replied, curious but not too concerned. He then motioned them back to the pokémon center to put away their groceries and set off to Morty's house on the other end of the city to visit.

As they were doing so, however, they heard an explosion come from ahead, roughly in the same direction the police vehicles went. At the sound, the group immediately looked towards the direction of the Burned Tower, where an enormous cloud of smoke had erupted.

"Guys…" Fay said, pointing to the tower, "Let's go check this out!"

Niko, JJ, and Brittany all nodded in sync before running behind their black-haired friend. As they got closer, they noticed police officers doing battle with some unknown figure. The smoke from the explosion made it difficult to see who they were fighting, but it was clear that whatever pokémon it was, it knew hyper beam, as it kept blasting the orange beam of energy at the arcanines and their trainers.

"Officer, are you okay?" JJ said as he got down to help one of them. She turned to him, about to make a shoving motion when the pokémon finally revealed itself.

It was a tyranitar.

"What the…?" JJ started in confusion. He was so taken aback by this that he couldn't finish his sentence.

"Oh, look what we have here. A little trainer trying to play hero by saving Officer Jenny…" A tall man with greasy black hair and a five o'clock shadow appeared behind tyranitar.

"Rex…?" JJ said, half in confusion and half in anger. Rex was the guy who almost stole celebi from its shrine in the Ilex Forest. Luckily he and Brittany went back in time to prevent him from doing so.

"Who _are_ you? And how do you know my name?" Rex declared, leaning down to shout in JJ's face. "HOW!?"

"You almost tried stealing celebi from Kurt, using the GS ball."

"Oh…it was you… _you_ stopped me from doing it? Huh!? WHERE IS IT THEN!?" Rex continued, spitting in JJ's face with every word.

"A place where you'll never find it!" Fay said, stepping forward to assist JJ. Niko and Brittany helped up Officer Jenny while Fay and JJ stood up to Rex. "Now, what are _you_ doing here?"

"Heh, none of your business, kid. Tyranitar, hyper beam!" Rex commanded, backing away to let his pokémon attack. As it did so, Fay and JJ found themselves dropped into the ground below their feet, as were Niko and Brittany. The resulting blast of the hyper beam hit the ground, creating another explosion.

* * *

The four trainers found themselves in what looked like some sort of underground chamber, lit by some torches sitting perched on a wall four feet apart. Peering around, they saw a tunnel that seemed to lead to the outside at the other end.

"Where are we…?" Niko asked out loud. A voice immediately quieted him. He recognized that voice. "Morty…?" The brown-haired trainer turned around to see the Ecruteak gym leader standing there smiling at them.

"It's been a while, hasn't it? How are you four doing?" Morty asked, as if nothing was wrong in the world.

"We're, err, fine actually. We were on our way to visit you as a matter of fact," Niko replied, smirking a little.

Morty closed his eyes and nodded. "And I would have answered, if it weren't for this."

"What's going on, Morty?" Brittany asked, still looking around the chamber. "And where exactly are we?"

"We're actually under Tin Tower. That light you see over there? That's the bottom of the Burned Tower, where we first met. As for what's happening…well, the beasts have come back."

"Why?" JJ asked, turning to the tunnel in front of them.

"Even though they have been gone for years now, the three beasts do have a close affiliation with the city, specifically these towers. When they sense danger, they come back. I'm sure Rex understood this, and he is here to lure them out of wherever they were hiding."

"Why is he trying to do that?"

"Well, he's a poacher. I believe you've met him before, right?"

Niko nodded. "Yeah, we did. But we went back in time to stop him from capturing celebi, so technically he doesn't remember it."

"Ah, I see. Well, usually time travel is dangerous, but that was well worth it, it seems. Anyways yes, he is a poacher, as you're well aware, and I believe he is trying to capture the beasts using his tyranitar."

"But surely he can't fight all of them, right? There are three legendary pokémon, and only one of him…" Fay pointed out. Morty nodded, but was still concerned.

"That's correct, Fay. Problem is, there is a way to put them to sleep. He is planning to do this. And not with the usual sleep techniques that you might imagine, like hypnosis or sleep powder. Interestingly enough, the beasts can still run away while asleep. They're the only pokémon that we know of with that ability.

"No, Rex plans to do something bigger than that. He plans on using what's called the clear bell. It's an instrument that is used to call the beasts, but also to control them. The only other way to halt them is to freeze them like they were before, but there is no such tool by which Rex could repeat that."

"So…how do we stop him?" Niko asked, taking a half-step forward.

"That's what I'm trying to figure out. And it's also why I'm glad you're here, actually. You see, I think the best way would be to distract the tyranitar and then go immediately after Rex, but neither I nor Eusine can do that alone, you see."

"So…you want us all to fight that tyranitar?" Fay asked, raising an eyebrow.

Morty nodded. "Yes. Eusine and I will join in the fight as well."

"But wait…isn't that what the police were just doing?" Brittany asked, looking a little scared at the prospect of fighting that tyranitar.

"Indeed they were, but notice none of them actually went after Rex. That's where our plans are different. If we can get tyranitar out of the way, it could open up a path to get Rex."

"Well, I guess we could give it a try, right?" Niko asked, turning to this friends. Fay and JJ nodded, but Brittany seemed more reserved. "You alright, Brittany?"

"Yeah…I guess I'm just worried for our pokémon. That hyper beam leveled a field of arcanine."

"Well, if we work together, it won't be an issue. We can do this!" Niko said, walking over to his brunette friend and gripping her shoulders. "We're all in this together, just like we always are."

Brittany smiled warmly at Niko, embracing him as he finished talking. He returned the hug, only to let go a moment later as they all prepared to confront Rex.

* * *

"So there he is," Morty said as the group peered out from the far side of Tin Tower, looking over at the pokémon poacher and his tyranitar standing at the front gates. "Looks like he is about to call the beasts with the clear bell."

"What's the plan then? Should we go now?" Niko asked, turning to the gym leader. He nodded. "Got it," Niko pulled out a pokéball containing magneton. "MAGNETON, USE SONICBOOM!"

The wave of sonic energy burst out of the trio of magnemite as it slammed against tyranitar's back, barely seeming to scratch it. Rex immediately turned around as he and his pokémon were met with a flurry of attacks from magneton, gengar, Eusine's electrode, wartortle, sudowoodo, and growlithe. The armor pokémon took a step back, angrier than ever, as it launched a powerful hyper beam.

Immediately before the attack hit, gengar touched each of the pokémon, making them intangible for a moment. While the pokémon all did battle, Niko, Morty, Eusine, and Fay all ran around the tower to catch Rex off guard. Unfortunately, he saw them coming and tossed out a second pokémon: dragonite.

"Hyper beam!" He commanded in a deep, yet sinister, voice. The orange beam of energy hit the ground in front of the four trainers, knocking them off of their feet and onto the ground several feet behind them.

Niko's ears were ringing from the resulting explosion, but he staggered back up and ran towards the poacher, dodging another hyper beam aimed directly at him, but found himself being thrown against the side of Tin Tower. Rex then whipped out what looked to be the clear bell and rung it a few times.

"You…you can't…!" Morty shouted out, running further towards Rex, dodging another hyper beam.

"Oh, but I am. And there's nothing any of you can do to stop me! Dragonite, use thunderbolt!" Rex commanded as the dragon pokémon aimed it at Morty.

Out of the corner of Niko's eye, however, he noticed a blinding flash of yellow speed past him, intercepting the thunderbolt and knocking Morty out of the way. That was all he saw before he passed out from the resulting explosion of yet another hyper beam aimed at Fay, who was closest to him.

As Fay was about to get hit by the hyper beam, he found himself being pushed aside by a blinding flash of red, knocking him out of the way and taking the attack for himself. The force of the push was enough to send him hurtling across the field and into a tree, which knocked him out as well.

While both Niko and Fay were out cold, Morty and Eusine noticed that they weren't alone anymore. This became even more evident when a third flash, this time blue, rushed towards dragonite and tackled it with enough force to send the dragon type flying several yards backwards. It stopped to reveal itself, but only for a moment.

"…Suicune!" Rex stammered, holding out the clear bell. "Listen to me! You are mine to command—mine!"

The aurora pokémon simply turned to him and rushed forward, tackling him as well and knocking him unconscious as a result. It turned to Morty and Eusine, both speechless. As they staggered up, they saw entei and raikou join alongside suicune. Eusine fainted from the sight, but Morty stood still, his mind trying to process what was happening.

After a couple moments, he was finally able to utter words, but he only had two. "Thank you."

* * *

Niko woke up in a hospital bed, feeling sore yet again. Turning to his left he saw that Fay was sitting up, rubbing his eyes. To his right was Eusine, who was fast asleep. Morty was sitting at his bedside when he noticed Niko's awakening.

"Oh, good evening, Niko," the blond-haired gym leader said pleasantly, beaming at the young trainer. "How're you feeling?"

"Sore. Very sore," Niko said plainly, gripping his left side and cringing slightly.

"That's to be expected. You nearly took two hyper beams to the face."

"Did I? I don't remember much. Just getting thrown at the wall of Tin Tower and you getting rescued by some yellow flash."

"Ah, you're correct on both accounts. As for the 'yellow flash', that was raikou intercepting the thunderbolt aimed for me. The beasts ended the fight rather quickly. Entei rescued Fay, and suicune finished off dragonite and Rex."

"What about tyranitar?" Fay said as he stood up for the first time, fully realizing how empty his legs felt. He immediately fell back on his bed with a soft look of regret.

Morty chuckled. "Well, your friends held it off long enough for the beasts to finish it off. Your pokémon did a great job out there from what I've heard."

Niko smiled. He never failed to be proud of his magneton. Fay felt the same way about sudowoodo, as crazy as the imitation pokémon was.

Moments later Brittany, JJ, and some of their pokémon walked into the room. Brittany ran over to hug Fay and Niko.

"How're you guys feeling?" JJ asked, slapping Niko on the back. When he groaned loudly, JJ quickly apologized. "Sorry, didn't realize how sore you were."

"Very…" Niko said, cringing again. "But otherwise, I'm fine. Fay seems to be fine, too!"

Fay nodded in agreement. "I am. Can't feel my legs, but otherwise I'm alright."

"That's great. We were worried about you two. You both got hit pretty hard," Brittany mentioned, sitting next to Fay as JJ sat next to Niko.

"Yeah, you could say that again…" Niko responded, caressing his shoulder still.

"Anyways," Fay said, continuing the conversation. "We heard the beasts showed up. Is that true?" He asked, as if unsure if he could believe Morty.

"Yeah, they actually did, right as you passed out. By the way, your pokémon did a great job!" Brittany said, turning to magneton and sudowoodo, both of whom just reunited with their trainers.

"Of course they did—we've trained them well," Niko said, his ears still ringing a little. That might have just been because of magneton. He wasn't quite sure.

"What were they like?" Fay asked, turning to Morty.

"Breathtakingly beautiful."

"I can imagine, especially after studying them like you have."

"You have no idea, kid. Eusine actually fainted from the sight of suicune. Which isn't surprising—he is in love with the pokémon!" The group laughed.

"Also, what happened to Rex?" Niko asked, returning magneton to its pokéball.

"Apprehended by the police. They also confiscated his pokéballs. We shouldn't see any more of him any time soon," Morty replied, looking victorious for a moment.

Hours later, the group left Morty's house (after getting permission to leave the hospital) to head back to the pokémon center and get another night's rest before heading off to Mahogany Town. Despite being exhausted yet again, they figured that it was time to get moving towards their next destination. They didn't plan on leaving immediately, obviously, but nonetheless pledged not to spend too much time in Ecruteak City, at least not more than they needed to.


	35. Episode 35: Bruno's training grounds

**Author's note: Hey y'all! Kind of a short episode here, but I did want to introduce azurill in this episode, and figured that at some point I should include Mt. Mortar. That gave me the idea of doing an episode with Bruno again, since it's the kind of place he would go to (and I believe he does in the games, I think; could be wrong though). Anyways, enjoy!**

* * *

 **Episode 35: Bruno's training grounds**

After the episode in Ecruteak City—where the group reunited with the pokémon poacher Rex—the journey to Mahogany Town would take a little under a week. And, frankly, the group didn't seem to enjoy the route much.

The path required them to either continue travelling by land, in which they would have to scale Mt. Mortar and the accompanying mountain range, or they would travel by water. Not having large enough water pokémon to travel with, the group decided to take the mountain route, which was by no means an easy trip. After a couple of days of travelling through the forest and up into the mountains, the group took cover inside an entrance to Mt. Mortar. As they sat down and let quilava start a campfire to warm them up, JJ looked out into the forest beyond them, high up in the mountain range.

"Hey, guys, what's that out there?" JJ said, pointing ahead through the rain.

"What's what out there?" Niko asked in response, squinting his eyes in the same direction as his friend. He even stood up and walked over to JJ in hopes of getting a better look.

"See that little blue thing?"

"You mean the thing that looks like a blue bouncing ball?" Niko asked. "Yeah, why?"

"I think that's a pokémon…" JJ said. Niko, unsure of what exactly they're looking at, pulled out his pokédex to confirm this. Instead, the dex gave off a static sound and didn't seem to be working properly. "Maybe the storm is interfering with it?" JJ wondered, turning from Niko's pokédex to the creature off in the distance.

"Or it could be something that the pokédex doesn't recognize," Fay suggested. "After all, isn't that what happened when you tried to analyze tyranitar back in the Indigo League?"

JJ and Niko nodded, the latter looked up at the former as he ran out into the storm to grab it. Moments later—and after hearing all of his friends yell for him to hurry back—JJ arrived back at the cave entrance, holding a little blue pokémon with big black eyes and a long, zigzag tail that also had a blue ball attached to it.

"What…is it?" Fay asked, looking up at the thing JJ was holding.

"No idea…so either it isn't native to Johto or the storm is interfering with the pokédex. Either way, it looks hungry. Are you hungry little guy?"

The pokémon nodded as JJ sat it down in front of the fire while he and Fay grabbed some food for it. The pokémon looked around at the other two trainers and their pokémon, curious and a little afraid.

"Hi there, my name is Brittany. That's Niko, and those two guys getting you food are Fay and JJ. JJ is the one who rescued you," Brittany said kindly, looking up at Fay as he gave the pokémon a small plate of food. The pokémon eagerly ate it. After it was done, Brittany's pichu leapt out of her arms and walked over to the pokémon, poking its tail a little, causing it to squeal softly. "Pichu…be careful, alright?" Brittany said, lightly scolding her electric type. "It might be a little scared. I can imagine being out in a storm all alone like that is frightening, huh?"

The pokémon, who clearly seemed to understand what Brittany was saying, nodded slowly. Moments later, JJ picked it up and placed a blanket under it. That's when they all decided to finish their dinner and head to sleep, each taking turns keeping watch of the area. This meant that they all got a chance to hang around the unknown pokémon, trying to get it to like them a little bit more. Everyone seemed to agree that it was cute, and after a while each one was keen on actually capturing it.

The following morning, they all awoke with a start. There was a loud noise coming from deep within the mountain. They all decided to pack up and check it out, the pokémon following close behind them.

It may have taken them roughly half an hour, but they finally entered into a much larger inner chamber of Mt. Mortar, where they saw some torches lit across the walls and a shirtless man in white sweatpants kicking alongside three seemingly unknown pokémon. Noticing that there was a flight of stone stairs that took them down into the chamber, the group slowly walked down to get a better look at what was going on.

Upon realizing who the shirtless man was, Niko was the first to speak. "Hello…? Is that…Bruno?"

The man and his three pokémon stopped immediately, turning to the group of trainers. He looked confused for a moment until he recognized them. Once he did, he smiled warmly.

"Ah yes! I remember you boys now! Hoo-hah! You came to train at my dojo once, right?" Niko and Fay nodded. "And I gave you a hitmonchan and hitmonlee, right?" The two trainers nodded once more. "Ah, great! How are they doing? Are they with you?"

"No sir. We left them in Pallet Town so we could both start fresh in Johto."

"Oh, I see. Challenging gyms here, eh? How many badges?" Bruno asked, his hands now resting on his hips.

"Soon to be seven, actually," Fay said rather confidently. Knowing that the Mahogany gym specializes in ice type, he figured he had a solid chance of doing well.

"So…Mahogany Town then?" Niko and Fay nodded a third time. "Ah, Pryce. Yes yes…don't _ever_ underestimate him. He's tougher than he looks, that's for sure! Hoo-hah!"

"We'll keep that in mind. Actually Bruno, we're wondering why you're here," Niko inquired.

"This is my training site in Johto. I come here once a month to train with my fighting pokémon. We were actually just getting warmed up," Bruno explained as he saw a little pokémon appear from behind JJ's legs. "Oh? What's this?" He asked, walking forward and bending down to get a better look at the strange blue pokémon. "Ah, I see."

"What is it, Bruno?" JJ wondered, looking down at the Elite 4 member and his interactions with the blue pokémon.

"This isn't from Johto. It's called azurill, and they're usually found in the Hoenn region."

"Azurill, you say…" JJ wondered, looking down at the pokémon. "And it's from Hoenn. So what's it doing here then?"

"Well, they evolve into marill, which _is_ native to Johto. It may have just been born here, and its parents might be from Hoenn. Hard to tell, but the point is that this pokémon is pretty rare around these parts. How'd you come across it?"

"JJ found it outside just after the storm started. We figured that it might be lost," Niko said. He understood that—it's how he found magnemite, after all.

"Ah, I see. Well, you're quite lucky, JJ," Bruno said as he stood up.

"What do you mean, Bruno?" JJ asked, turning to the Elite 4 member.

"To have found such a rare pokémon of course!"

"Oh…" JJ said, realizing what he meant. "I actually haven't caught it. It technically isn't mine."

"Well, if it followed you all the way down here and it must feel some sort of loyalty to you."

JJ turned to azurill, who seemed less reserved now. It looked up at the curly blond trainer in return. For a moment they're eyes met and it all clicked in JJ's head.

"Azurill…" He began, "do you want to travel with us? That is, if you don't already have a home…"

Azurill turned back to the tunnel they had come from, then back to JJ and shook its head slowly. JJ smiled as he pulled out an empty pokéball and pressed the button on azurill's head. The tiny pokémon turned red and went inside the ball, wiggling around for a moment before ultimately clicking.

"Well, guess I just caught an azurill…" JJ said happily, showing his friends and Bruno the pokéball.

"Well done, JJ! Hoo-hah!" Bruno roared out. "Now, Niko, Fay, since you two are challenging gyms, how about a battle before you are on your way?"

Niko and Fay each turned to one another, motioning for the other to go. "Fay…I got to battle Karen. You can battle Bruno."

"Psh. How about I battle each of you. One on one?" The two trainers nodded. They decided that Fay should go first.

"Quilava, you're up!" Fay said, summoning his fire type.

"Hitmontop," Bruno said, turning to one of the fighting pokémon already present. "Let's roll."

"What's that…?" JJ asked, holding azurill and pulling out his pokédex:

" _Hitmontop, the handstand pokémon. After doing a handstand to throw off the opponent's timing, it presents its fancy kick moves_."

"Alright then…quilava, let's see what this pokémon can do! Use ember!"

"Hitmontop, use rapid spin to knock the embers away!" Bruno shouted out decisively. The handstand pokémon spun around on its head at an incredible speed, extinguishing the embers as they landed. "Now, use triple kick on quilava!"

Hitmontop stopped spinning and leapt back onto its two feet only to jump forward once more, landing its foot into quilava's side and sending it into the stairs nearby. Quilava slowly got up, clearly severely damaged by this.

"Quilava you can do this! Use flame wheel!"

"Rapid spin hitmontop!" Bruno shouted out. The two pokémon collided in midair and were knocked backwards a little. Falling onto the ground, quilava immediately got back onto her feet and used flame wheel again. Hitmontop retaliated with a triple kick, but quilava was faster this time. She slammed into the handstand pokémon with her full weight behind her, sending hitmontop rolling backwards on the ground for several feet.

"Hmm…your quilava is strong, Fay, I'll give it that, "Bruno said, complementing the volcano pokémon. "However, it's time we end this. Hitmontop, use quick attack!"

"Quilava, run head-on with flame wheel!" Fay commanded. As the volcano pokémon rushed forward, its body aflame, hitmontop easily evaded at the perfect time, rolling in mid-air and slamming its foot onto quilava's back, knocking it to the ground.

"Finish it off with triple kick!" Bruno shouted. Hitmontop leapt into the air and spun on its side, hitting quilava's back with both feet and its tail before quilava fainted. "Good job, Fay. You're doing well as a trainer. At this moment, I don't have much to tell you other than to keep doing what you're already doing."

"Thanks, Bruno," Fay said as he picked up quilava. "I appreciate that."

"Indeed. Now, Niko, I'm sure you wished to battle as well?" Bruno said, turning to the other trainer.

"Yes. Let's do it."

"Alright then. Hitmonlee, you're up!" Bruno said as the kicking pokémon leapt onto the field in front of its trainer.

"Hoothoot, let's go!" Niko said, summoning his flying type. "Use take down!"

"Hitmonlee, dodge and use hi jump kick," Bruno said rather calmly. Hitmonlee waited until the owl pokémon was close enough before jumping backwards out of the way and then lunging forwards once more, its right foot sticking straight out. It slammed into hoothoot, crashing the flying type into the ground.

Bruno waited for a moment to allow hoothoot to get up before resuming the battle. Once it did, it attempted a peck attack, to which hitmonlee also dodged and retaliated with a roundhouse mega kick, launching hoothoot into the opposite end of the chamber, nearly creating a dent in the rock wall. Hoothoot collapsed onto the ground, defeated.

"Hoothoot!" Niko cried out as he ran to his left to pick up the owl pokémon. "Are you okay?" Hoothoot nodded slowly with a look of disappointment on its face. Niko smiled all the same. "Don't worry buddy. You did just fine," Hoothoot looked away, clearly upset.

An hour later, Bruno finished healing up quilava and hoothoot before bidding them farewell on their journeys.

"Good luck you all, especially you two, Niko and Fay," Bruno began, "As I said before, Pryce is no walk in the park. And Claire in Blackthorn…easily the toughest gym leader in Johto. I'd watch out for her as well. But I can tell that you two are doing just fine. Just keep your heads up high and never stop training your pokémon. Learn new moves, create new strategies. That's the fun in being a trainer. You can both do it."

"Thanks Bruno, we appreciate that," Niko responded. With a wave good-bye, the four walked back up the stairs to the tunnel from whence they had previously entered. A half an hour later, they arrived outside, the storm seemed to have cleared up. Despite having to walk on sketchy terrain for the next couple of days, the group's spirits seemed to have been lifted a little. They looked forward to the future.


	36. Episode 36: The owl's determination

**Episode 36: The owl's determination**

In the run-up to their gym battle with Pryce in Mahogany Town, Niko and Fay spent most of their time training, often with Brittany and JJ helping out. Fay wanted to work on quilava's speed, while flaaffy worked on learning thunderpunch. Sudowoodo, on the other hand, had difficulty training, as it was far more interested in running around playfully, either terrorizing random pokémon on the mountainside or breaking trees or rocks. Fay also worked on teaching teddiursa faint attack with the help of JJ and umbreon, the latter of whom seemed to be getting much better at it.

Niko, on the other hand, primarily focused on hoothoot. Croconaw still refused to listen to him; this was made evident to him when he tried to teach it ice punch, but it bit his arm softly and laid under a tree to sleep. Yanma and magneton continued working on their sonicboom attacks on the edge of the mountain, so as to not disrupt anyone else's training. This left Niko to give his owl pokémon his full attention. Hoothoot was trying to learn steel wing, as well as get its hypnosis down, although the latter wasn't the primary focus.

"Alright hoothoot, let's try again!" Niko shouted on their third day of training since their encounter with Bruno. "Just hold your wings out straight…yeah, that's it…just do that and allow yourself to fly downwards…okay, that's fine, let's try it again!"

Hoothoot crashed into a tree.

"Don't give up hoothoot, you can do this!" Niko said, running over to his owl pokémon. Hoothoot stood up, looking dejected, and it lifted itself off of the ground and tried again. Niko smiled; he was glad hoothoot was not giving up on this.

Later that day, during dinner, the group was talking about the progress they had made that day while their pokémon ate as a group beside them, with the exception of croconaw, who preferred to eat alone since its evolution. The only other noticeable difference was hoothoot, who was still looking rather disappointed in itself.

"Is hoothoot alright, Niko?" JJ asked, leaning over and speaking in low tones to his friend.

"Yeah, I think it's just disappointed that it can't manage to learn steel wing."

"Can't blame it; learning moves outside of their natural type isn't that easy, right?" Niko nodded.

"Yeah, especially ones that aren't natural to begin with. Hoothoot doesn't naturally learn steel wing, so I guess it's particularly difficult for it."

The group continued talking for a bit, deciding that the following morning they would continue on down the mountain range. They figured that if they kept it up for the next day or so, they would reach Mahogany Town in a day and a half.

After everyone went to bed, returning their pokémon, Niko watched as hoothoot stood there perched on a tree overlooking the land beyond it. They were at a relatively high elevation at this point, with a forest that covered the mountainside rather nicely. The brown-haired trainer sat there watching hoothoot for a while, wondering what it was thinking. Niko could empathize; he had his own moments of self-introspection on his journey thus far, and trying to overcome difficult obstacles in his way seemed to become more natural the longer he was away from home. Hoothoot must have felt the same way. After what seemed to be an hour, Niko crashed down onto his sleeping bag and fell asleep rather quickly.

While everyone was asleep, hoothoot sat perched on the branch, trying to stay awake itself. It had been a long day of training, and the little owl had taken a fair amount of beatings from trees and wild branches as a result of failed attempts at steel wing. But despite this, hoothoot refused to give up; it didn't want to be the kind of pokémon that quit when life got hard. That's not how it lived its life before it met Niko, and that's certainly not how it wanted to live after joining his team. Sometimes, though, it felt the temptation to do quit; to convince Niko that it deserved to be released.

But it also understood how doing this might make its trainer feel. Niko believed in it, which is why he chose to catch it. It was never the kind to disappoint, and wanted to be included and feel important for not just the sake of its trainer and teammates, but for itself as well. However, recently there have been moments when it did feel worthless. It knew that Niko didn't want to use it in his rematch against Jasmine, since it would have been easily defeated by steelix on the grounds that it didn't know any moves that could defeat the iron snake. Hoothoot knew that Niko did this for its own good, to prevent it from getting hurt, but the owl couldn't help but think that if it had been stronger, it might have been of more use, and could put up a legitimate fight against steelix and helped Niko win the mineral badge the first time.

It also felt like a disappointment only a few days ago, when it was easily defeated by Bruno's hitmonlee. Sure, hoothoot understood that hitmonlee was an Elite 4-level pokémon, but it was smart enough to understand when it had the advantage and when it didn't. It prides itself in understanding battle strategy better than other pokémon might. With this in mind, it wanted to do better against a fighting type pokémon and prove its worth to its trainer.

Hoothoot slowly sighed, its eyes growing heavy. Taking a moment to look down at the forest below it, the owl pokémon took flight without hesitation. It continued to fall at an angle, gliding down the mountainside with its wings stiff. For a moment, hoothoot noticed its wings glowing, but the effect quickly stopped as it slammed headfirst into a rather think tree branch. The owl pokémon fell backwards on the ground, dazed and confused, but also frustrated.

Getting up, it decided to try again. And again. And again.

* * *

Niko woke up the following morning in a daze. There were times where he woke up with an amnesia of sorts, where it would take him a moment to remember where he was, what day it was, and what he had done the day before. Once he looked around and everything came back to him, he noticed that he hadn't put hoothoot back in its pokéball. Looking over to the tree it was sitting on the previous night, he realized the owl was gone.

Niko turned to his friends, who were making breakfast and packing some things up in preparation to leave. "Guys…? Has anyone seen hoothoot?"

"No, don't think so Niko. Did you forget to put it in its pokéball?" Fay asked, turning around after flipping a pancake.

He shook his head. "No, I let it sit outside for the night, figuring it would choose to sleep on that branch over there. But it's gone now…" Niko said, pointing to the tree near the ledge.

"Maybe it went to go hunt then…" Brittany asked, showing a look of concern on the same level of her friend's.

"Maybe. I'm going to go out looking for it. Shouldn't be too long," Niko said as he reached for yanma's pokéball and tossing it out. "Hey buddy, hoothoot is missing. Can you go on ahead and look for it? I'll be right behind you."

Yanma nodded, confused but looking dutiful. It flew off in the direction that Niko thought the owl might go, with its trainer following closely behind, nearly stumbling off the ledge in the process.

Meanwhile, hoothoot was still practicing steel wing, as it had been doing roughly all night. There were moments when it felt like it got the move down correctly, but the wings stopped glowing after a while, causing the owl to slam into another tree or rock. It took a couple hours in the late evening to rest, but was otherwise still at it when Niko started his search.

Hoothoot stood atop another branch and, opening its wings, glided down into the clearing, aiming for the closest tree. The wings began to glow, and they stayed that way. Did hoothoot finally master steel wing? Possibly, but the owl pokémon accidentally hit another tree, knocking out a flock of sleeping pidgeys and their mother, a pidgeot.

Hoothoot crashed into the ground and while it was still dazed looked up again to notice the pidgeot diving towards it. The owl quickly got out of the way but was pecked by the incoming flock of pidgeys. It finally got into the air, but collided with the pidgeot just after it took flight. All of the pidgeys were hovering over hoothoot, taking turns at pecking it.

"Yanma, sonicboom!" A familiar voice shouted out. Suddenly the pidgeys were blown away by the wave of sonic energy. Hoothoot looked up to see Niko and yanma standing there, ready to do battle with the pidgeot, who didn't seem to be too hurt by it. Yanma launched into a quick attack, striking at pidgeot who responded with a wing attack, quickly knocking the bug type down. "Hoothoot, are you alright?" Niko asked as he ran past the battle to his owl. Hoothoot nodded, but took flight and went after pidgeot.

Yanma took another wing attack to the face before pidgeot noticed hoothoot again. It turned around and rushed at the owl pokémon, its wing glowing. Hoothoot dodged the wing attack and made a U-turn as it went in for take down. It landed successfully, but pidgeot responded with gust, knocking hoothoot backwards and into a nearby tree trunk.

"Hoothoot! You can do it!" Niko shouted. "Hoothoot! Use steel wing!" He commanded, as if he understood why hoothoot had left in the first place.

The owl pokémon turned to yanma, and then to Niko, before getting back up and flying directly at pidgeot. The two bird pokémon spun around one another, each trying to land a wing-based attack. Pidgeot quickly gained the upper hand, slamming hoothoot with another wing attack and launching the owl pokémon through the air. However, as it did so, hoothoot began to glow a bright white color. It got significantly larger, its wings longer, and two feather-like horns above each eye. Suddenly, the much larger owl pokémon shot like a bullet at pidgeot, its wings glowing a light gray color. It slammed into pidgeot, sending the bird pokémon crashing into the ground, effectively knocking it out. It then turned to Niko, whose pokédex was already out:

" _Noctowl, the owl pokémon. Normal and flying type. Its extremely soft feathers make no sound in flight. It silently sneaks up on prey without being detected_."

"Hoot—I mean—noctowl, you did a great job! I'm so proud of you!" Niko said as noctowl landed and allowed its trainer to embrace it. "You evolved _and_ learned steel wing! Now, c'mon, let's get yanma and head back up to the camp. We need to get going!"

After what seemed like an hour, the three finally made it back to their campsite up the mountain. The other three trainers were initially scared that something might have happened, but when they saw noctowl flying right next to him, they understood immediately.

"So…I take it you found hoothoot?" Fay asked, smirking in Niko's direction.

"Heh, yeah. It's noctowl though. But we found it, and I couldn't be happier."

"That's good. Now, we're all packed up and ready to go. We should be able to make it to Mahogany Town by tomorrow if we don't waste any time!" JJ said, motioning the group forward.


	37. Episode 37: The angry gyarados!

**Episode 37: The angry gyarados!**

The group eventually reached Mahogany Town in the afternoon after hoothoot evolved into noctowl. Tired from the journey, they went immediately to the pokémon center and took a quick nap before eating a late lunch and going to explore the town.

As they were told before, there wasn't much to do in Mahogany Town. It was small, quaint town that apparently used to be the "Home of the Ninja." However, during their relatively brief tour they saw no ninjas of any sort. The only thing worth taking a look at was their market which, according to people in the town, used to be a headquarters for Team Rocket. As they walked into the store this became quite evident, as there was a sectioned off corner in the back that looked like it used to lead to a set of stairs.

Nevertheless, the market had an oddly creepy vibe to it. As the trainers looked around, they saw old knickknacks and weird-looking pieces of jewelry.

However, as they were perusing the shelves containing old artifacts and other oddities, they heard a loud sound coming from outside. Rushing to check it out, the group noticed that it was the new Champion of the Silver Conference—Lance—and his dragonite landing.

The red-haired, cape-bearing champion looked around for a moment, as if he was expecting someone. Once he realized that the only people in the area were the four young trainers standing in the market's doorway, he smiled briefly, waved, and walked away with his dragonite in tow.

"Wait, Lance!" Fay said as the champion turned around.

"What is it?" Lance asked, clearly looking like he was in a hurry.

"What are you doing here in Mahogany Town?" He asked.

"I'm here on league business. There's been some odd activity happening around here recently, and as champion it's my duty to come and check it out before we get the police involved. And in any case, I was free, so I figured I'd stop by."

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Fay wondered. The other three nodded behind him, clearly wondering the same thing. Yet Lance shook his head.

"Not that I can think of kids. It's dealing with some odd sound coming from this town. We think it might be due to seemingly unrelated strange activity up at the Lake of Rage. But until we figure out what's going on down here, we can't be too sure."

"Well, we could go up to the Lake of Rage and see what's going on over there, and re-group after?" Brittany suggested.

Lance sighed. He recognized that while he might need the help, he didn't want to burden these kids, or get anyone else involved that didn't need to be. Nonetheless, he agreed to have them check out the lake, summoning his two other dragonite for them to ride on.

Niko and JJ got on one dragonite and Fay and Brittany on the other. Niko and JJ initially seemed frightened of flying in the air, but got used to it a little more as the dragon pokémon flew low to the ground in a northern direction before reaching a rather large lake. The dragonite settled down onto the ground to let the group get off before flying back to Lance.

"They're just leaving us here?" JJ asked as he gestured to the dragon pokémon flying away.

"Guess so. Let's see what's going on over here," Niko suggested, motioning them to the edge of the lake. For a moment it didn't seem like anything was happening. While they waited, an elderly man approached them from their right.

"Ah, is this your first time here?" He asked, turning to Brittany in particular.

"Yeah…yeah it is, sir," the brunette responded. "We were sent here to see if there is anything wrong with this lake."

"Ah. I see. Well, as the name implies, the Lake of Rage is always chaotic. According to legend, it was created when a large number of gyarados gathered together and created a storm, thus creating this lake in the crater that remained. It has since been a place of wonder for travelers, and a lovely fishing spot for fishermen. However, some years back Team Rocket conducted a variety of experiments on the pokémon in the lake, many of them forcing evolution upon magikarp. Only one pokémon was affected—a red gyarados. It was Lance who defeated Team Rocket, alongside some kids, and put an end to this mess by capturing the red gyarados. But you're right—there has been some odd activity recently. The gyarados in the lake have been acting strange, and we're not quite sure why."

Suddenly, the group heard another explosion as the house nearby burst into flames. The old man cried out as he ran to the house.

"Horsea, use water gun!" Fay shouted, summoning his water type to douse the flames out. Brittany did the same with wartortle, while Niko ran after the old man.

Once the flames were extinguished, the old man came out with an old woman—presumably his wife—around his shoulder. They both collapsed onto the ground, gasping for fresh air. Niko got down next to him and offered his water bottle, since the woman clearly looked dehydrated.

"Thanks…" she said, drinking the water and laying back on the grass next to her husband. "What happened there honey?"

The old man turned to her and shook his head. "No idea."

As he said that, a trio appeared from the flames—two humans and one pokémon. Niko immediately recognized them as Team Rocket from the incident at the Goldenrod museum.

"Did you bomb this couple's house!?" He shouted, standing up and whipping out a pokéball.

"Oh, child," Jessie said, smirking evilly. "Do you _really_ think that we would stoop so low as to terrorize an old married couple?"

"Yes. Yes I think so," Niko said, "Magneton, use thunderbolt!"

"Oh no! Oh no no no!" James shouted, summoning his ghost type once again. "Yamask, use shadow ball!"

The two attacks collided in midair, resulting in an explosion. Magneton rushed forward to challenge yamask while Jessie and meowth did battle with Brittany and JJ.

"Why are you here? What do you have going on?" JJ shouted at Jessie as his umbreon fought wobbuffet.

"Fine, we might as well tell you now, since it looks like you won't be able to stop us soon!" Jessie said, cackling. "We are re-creating the experiments done on the gyarados years ago, using radio waves to control them and produce more red gyarados. Now, meowth, if you'll do the honors…"

"You've got it Jess!" Meowth said, grabbing a small remote control from a bag slung around his shoulder and pressed a series of buttons. Suddenly, out of the water, dozens of gyarados shot out the water, many of them also red.

"What the…" Fay said, pulling out two pokéballs. As he was about to release his pokémon to begin fighting, he saw Lance and his three dragonite descend to the ground.

"What's going on here…?" He asked hurriedly, turning from the gyarados to the group and Team Rocket. "Oh, not you guys again…"

"Oh no! It's Lance of the Elite 4!" James said, genuinely looking frightened.

"You've got that right. Dragonites, use hyper beam!"

The three dragon pokémon then unleashed three orange energy beams at Team Rocket, sending them into the burnt house, knocked out from the impact of the attack.

"Now that that's taken care of…we need to find a way to stop these gyarados. Calm them down, or something," Lance said. "What caused this in the first place?"

"Meowth from Team Rocket had some sort of remote control that turned on the radio waves?" Fay said, still unsure of what exactly was happening. "I'm not completely sure, but that seems to be it. What did you find in Mahogany Town?"

"Turns out, nothing actually. It must have been Team Rocket down there testing the range of their radio signal. Once they realized it wasn't strong enough, they must have come back up here to finally use it."

"Well, that solves that, but why are they still uptight?" Niko asked, almost as if he was demanding an answer.

"No clue. But it looks like they aren't going to be calmed down by turning off whatever those radio signals were. We might need to fight them."

" _Fight_ the gyarados!?" JJ shouted out. "Are you sure?"

"I'm positive. I think it's the only way to make them come to their senses. That's what happened last time, at least."

"Alright, we can do that. Right, guys?" Niko asked, standing up next to the old couple. "Before we do, I want to go check out the remote control. If it's still working, then maybe we can shut it off. If not, we're on our own."

"I'll go and help you. Horsea, flaaffy, go and fight the gyarados in the meantime!" Fay said, tossing out two of his pokémon to do battle with the gyarados. Niko did the same, instructing magneton to unleash a series of thunderbolts. Lance, Brittany, and JJ all joined in the fight, using pokémon that would have a chance of beating a gyarados.

Niko and Fay looked through the broken down house for Team Rocket, eventually finding them still unconscious from the impact of the hyper beams. Rummaging through the area around them, they found a broken remote control. Picking it up, Niko tried a few times to turn it on and off, but nothing seemed to work.

"Looks like it's broken. What do you think, Fay?" Niko asked, surrendering the remote control.

"Yep, definitely broken. Since the gyarados are still throwing a temper tantrum, it wouldn't matter whether or not these radio waves were even on. Anyways, let's go tell the others and join in on the fight."

Niko nodded as the two ran back to the lake's edge. The old couple had gotten on a dragonite to go down to Mahogany Town and alert the police there of what was happening. Meanwhile, the other two dragonites were flying around the lake, launching flamethrowers, ice beams, hyper beams, and thunderbolts at the gyarados, none of which were falling easily. Flaaffy and magneton were both fighting a pair of gyarados; Umbreon and beedrill another pair, and horsea and wartortle were fighting on the red gyarados. Some of them fell rather quickly; others took significantly more time. It seemed that horsea and wartortle were having particular difficulty. The turtle pokémon quickly fell to a series of dragon rages, leaving horsea largely on its own.

"Horsea, use twister!" Fay commanded. "Flaaffy, use thunderwave!"

The latter attack, combined with magneton's own thunderwave, caused the gyarados nearby to suddenly stop moving in the water. Both trainer's then commanded them to use thunderbolt and thundershock, while horsea used another twister to carry the red gyarados into the air and crashing back down into the water.

Then the gyarados, now recovering from the momentary paralysis, all turned to magneton and flaaffy, each focusing their dragon rages on the two electric types. As they unleashed the attacks simultaneously, Niko and Fay shouted out, pulling out their pokéballs to return them. As they were about to do so, however, horsea jumped in front of them and used a powerful twister attack, which sucked up the dragon rage into a spinning tornado of purple fire, eventually dissipating.

The little dragon began panting heavily, as it had expended nearly all of its energy doing so. But as it was about to faint from a lack of strength, it started to glow brightly. It grew slightly larger, with its tail and snout getting twice as large. It also grew a pair of wings on its back. Feeling fired up, Fay pulled out his pokédex to examine the evolved form of horsea:

" _Seadra, the dragon pokémon. Water type. Its fin tips leak poison. Its fins and bones are highly valued as ingredients in herbal medicine_."

"Alright seadra! Let's show these gyarados what we're made of! Use twister!" Fay shouted out. "Flaaffy, use thunderwave!"

"Magneton, thunderwave! Noctowl, steel wing!" Niko commanded as he summoned his owl pokémon to join the fight.

"Umbreon, faint attack! Beedrill, pin missile!" JJ called out.

"Dragonites, use hyper beam!" Lance commanded, throwing out a hand as a gesture.

The attacks all hit individual gyarados, nearly defeating each one. As they all fired dragon rages and hydro pumps in retaliation, one of Lance's dragonites used protect to block the incoming fire and water bursts while the other pokémon fired off the same moves once more. Now stunned by flaaffy's thunderwave, the pokémon used one final move before ultimately defeating the gyarados.

As the last gyarados retreated into the water, Lance turned to the group.

"Well, I had my doubts about getting kids involved, but I think you all performed quite well. Thank you for the help."

"Anytime, Lance," Fay said, "You helped me train my pokémon back in Kanto. The least I could do to thank you."

"So that's where I recognize you from! How are you charmeleon and gyarados doing, by the way?"

"They're both fine. Charmeleon evolved into charizard, but their dragon rages are much stronger, thanks for asking."

As they continued chatting, a squad of police vehicles appeared near the house, the old couple and dragonite following. Lance approached Officer Jenny and explained the situation, and walked with them over to Team Rocket, who were still unconscious. The police took them back into town, along with the group, who had said their farewells to Lance before getting into the squad cars.

Back in the pokémon center, again finding themselves exhausted, the group had a meal while planning the day ahead of them.

"So are you two ready for the gym tomorrow?" Brittany asked as she bit into her salad.

Niko and Fay both nodded. "Yeah, I think we're ready, right?" Niko asked. Fay nodded again as he was starting his own meal. "Guess we could go early in the morning so that, if we both win, we can head off to Blackthorn right after.

"Sounds like a plan to me!" JJ said as he fed azurill. "Today was quite the day though, wasn't it?"

"How is it that we always end up finding trouble?" Niko wondered as he chuckled at the thought.

"No idea. Wrong place, wrong time?" Brittany suggested.

"Or maybe right place, right time?" JJ asked, playfully arguing with his brunette friend. Brittany smirked before getting back to her salad.

The four then went immediately to bed. It had been another long and exhausting day. Their pokémon, who were resting in their trainer's beds, certainly felt the same way.


	38. Episode 38: The Winter Trainer

**Episode 38: The Winter Trainer**

Niko woke up later than usual the following morning feeling refreshed from the day previous. Looking around at magneton, yanma, and noctowl sleeping on or near his bed, and croconaw resting in an armchair far away, he thought about his gym battle that day against Pryce. Knowing that he would use primarily ice types, Niko had some strategy in mind, but figured that he might have to adjust it depending on what Pryce actually used.

Fay largely felt the same way. He knew for sure which pokémon he wanted to use, but understood that the order in which he used them would have to wait until the battle started.

The group had a late breakfast before proceeding over to the Mahogany gym. Walking inside, they immediately noticed how cold it was. However, they came prepared, and put on some thick sweaters that they bought back in Ecruteak to help them deal with the cold. Moments after they entered the gym, an old-looking man walked in from their right with a cane in his left hand. He was wearing beige slacks and a navy blue overcoat with a white scarf running down both sides of the front. He smirked as he studied the four young trainers.

"Well, hello there," the man said in an oddly cheerful voice. "How may I help you?"

"Oh, hello," Niko said, trying to warm up his hands by rubbing them furiously against one another. "We're here to challenge the Mahogany gym. My name is Niko, and this is Fay, Brittany and JJ."

" _All_ of you want to challenge me?" Pryce said with a look of surprise.

Niko shook his head aggressively. "Oh, no no sir. Just me and Fay!" Niko explained, reaching out his hand to shake Pryce's. "I assume you're the gym leader, then?"

Pryce nodded. "Indeed I am, Niko. Very well. I will move to the other end of the battlefield and we will begin. My grandson occasionally steps in to judge. He's sitting over there, and usually greets my challengers if I'm away. Luckily, I showed up the same time you all did."

Pryce walked over to the other end of the battlefield and turned to face Fay, who would be battling first. "This is a three-on-three battle, understood? You may begin when ready."

Fay nodded, whipping out his first pokémon. "Sudowoodo, you're up!"

Pryce smirked again. "You've come prepared. Very well. Dewgong, I choose you! Use whirlpool!"

"Sudowoodo, dodge and use rock throw!" Fay commanded. Sudowoodo, having observed horsea's ability to use whirlpool in the past, understood how to effectively counter it, and evaded just as the whirlpool landed. The imitation pokémon then conjured a rock above its head and tossed it at the sea lion pokémon.

The attack landed, but dewgong wasn't about to give in to a single move. It launched an aurora beam at sudowoodo, who took the hit but didn't seem too damaged by it. The two pokémon exchanged aurora beams and rock throws, each trying to dodge the other. Half of the gym was a pool, in order to accommodate for dewgong and other water types, and so the sea lion evaded by diving into the water occasionally.

"Dewgong, use icy wind!" Pryce shouted out. Like Jasmine, he was calm at first but quickly got fired up.

"Sudowoodo, brace yourself for the attack!" Fay said, holding his arm up to his eyes to protect them from the cold blast of air. The imitation pokémon stood there, trying to deal with the attack. However, it froze as a result of the attack. "Sudowoodo!"

"Dewgong, finish it off with whirlpool!" Pryce yelled out. The sea lion conjured a whirlpool out of the water and levitated it from the pool as it tossed it in sudowoodo's direction. The attack slammed into the rock type and defeated it.

"Sudowoodo is unable to battle, dewgong wins! Fay will now use his second pokémon!" Pryce's grandson declared.

"Sudowoodo, return. You did great. Flaaffy, you're up! Use thunderwave!"

"Dewgong, use icy wind!" Pryce shouted. He had hoped that icy wind would disrupt the thunderwave, and it seemed to work as he planned. "Now, follow up with aurora beam!"

"Flaaffy, use thundershock!" Fay commanded. The electric attack met the rainbow-colored beam, creating a small explosion in the middle of the field. "Now, use thunderpunch!"

The wool pokémon rushed forward its opponent, leaping into the air, its fist generating wild electricity. Pryce commanded dewgong use icy wind to halt it in midair, but flaaffy still managed to land the attack, punching dewgong in the side of the face. Both pokémon fell into the water, but only one was defeated.

"Dewgong is unable to battle, flaaffy wins! Pryce will send out his second pokémon!"

"Seel, you're up!" Pryce shouted out. "Use aurora beam!"

"Flaaffy, endure the attack!" Fay commanded, still unsure of how he could escape that move. It didn't seem possible, and so riding it out seemed to be the best option. Flaaffy didn't seem too troubled by it, unlike sudowoodo. "Now, use thunderwave!"

"Seel, dive into the water!" Pryce commanded. The sea lion pokémon dove into the pool to avoid the wave of electricity aimed at it. "Now, use aurora beam again!"

"Flaaffy, use thunderpunch!" Fay commanded. The wool pokémon rushed forward once again, its fist lighting up with electricity. However, it took the aurora beam head on, which knocked it back several feet. The electricity in its fist disappeared.

"Seel, use headbutt!" Pryce said. Seel leapt out of the water and onto the field, sliding towards flaaffy. It lowered its head and collided with the wool pokémon as it was getting back up.

"Flaaffy now's your chance! Use thunderpunch!" Fay commanded, throwing his hand out in a gesture. The wool pokémon didn't hesitate as it slammed its fist atop seel's head, effectively knocking out the pokémon.

Pryce smirked though. "Nice job, Fay. Maybe I should have saved dewgong for later. I can see why. Now, however, I think I have you beat. Piloswine, let's go!" The old man shouted out with an unfamiliar fury in his tone. Niko whipped out his pokédex to check out the unfamiliar pokémon:

" _Piloswine, the swine pokémon. Ice and ground type. Although its legs are short, its rugged hooves prevent it from slipping, even on icy ground_."

"Flaaffy, use flash!" Fay shouted out.

"Piloswine, close your eyes and use blizzard!" Pryce shouted out. The swine pokémon's fur shook rapidly as it created a powerful blizzard move that knocked flaaffy off of its feet, its flash move ineffective. "Now, use take down!"

The ice type rushed forward with incredible speed, colliding with flaaffy and sending it sliding across the portion of the battlefield that was solid. Pryce commanded it use blizzard once again, which effectively finished flaaffy off.

"Flaaffy is unable to battle, piloswine wins! Fay will now send out his third and final pokémon!"

"This should be no surprise. Quilava, I choose you!"

"Hmm. Fire type. Got it," Pryce said, closing his eyes for a moment.

"Quilava, use flame wheel!" Fay commanded.

"Piloswine, detect!" Pryce said calmly. The volcano pokémon slammed into the swine pokémon, only to be bounced backwards, sliding across the field. "Now use take down!"

Piloswine rushed forward at an incredible pace, slamming into quilava before falling back again and using icy wind.

"Quilava, use flame wheel to protect from the icy wind, and run at piloswine!" Fay commanded. Quilava shot forward again, able to evade the icy wind by warming itself up. It slammed into piloswine, nearly knocking both of them into the pool behind them. But piloswine caught quilava in its tusks and threw the volcano pokémon high into the air.

"Piloswine, use blizzard!" Pryce shouted out again. As quilava was in the air, it felt the blizzard and began to freeze. By the time it landed back on the field, it was essentially an ice cube.

Fay scoffed under his breath. This wouldn't be hard to get out of. "Quilava, use ember!"

Unsurprisingly, quilava was able to melt the ice that was holding it in place, the ice quickly turning to water and then to vapor. "Now, use flame wheel!"

"Piloswine, use take down!"

The two pokémon rushed at each other, one at a rapid speed, and the other while on fire. The two collided, creating a small explosion of powdered ice. Once the cloud of ice dissipated, piloswine was on its side, and quilava was just getting back on its feet.

"Piloswine is unable to battle, quilava wins! The victory goes to Fay!" Pryce's grandson declared.

"Great job quilava, I'm very proud of you," Fay said as the volcano pokémon walked back over to its trainer to greet him. Fay returned the fire type as he began to trade places with Niko while Pryce went to go and heal his pokémon for the next battle.

A couple minutes later Pryce walked back to his side of the field with his cane to aid him. He turned to Niko, who it seems was also ready. Pryce smirked, and tossed out his first pokémon.

"Seel, let's go!"

"Magneton, I choose you!" Niko shouted, sending out his trusty magnet pokémon. "Use thunderbolt!"

"Seel, dodge and then use icy wind!" Pryce commanded. The sea lion dove into the water to avoid the bolt of electricity aimed for it and, when it reappeared a moment later, it summoned a chilly air in an attempt to stop magneton. However, it didn't seem to work, and magneton used thunderwave to stop seel in its tracks.

"Magneton, finish it off with thunderbolt!" Niko shouted out. The electric attack successfully landed, shocking the sea lion and causing it to faint.

"Seel is unable to battle, magneton wins! Pryce will send out his second pokémon!"

"Alright then, Niko. Your magneton is strong, I'll give it that. Piloswine, I choose you!" Pryce said calmly in a clear change of strategy. "Use blizzard!"

"Magneton, sonicboom!" Niko commanded. The trio of magnets spun around to generate sonic energy and launched it as the blizzard began to pick up. It slammed into piloswine, but the ground type didn't seem phased. "Use sonicboom again!"

"Is that all you've got?" Pryce asked in a slightly teasing tone. "If so, you're in for some trouble. Piloswine, use detect!"

The swine pokémon blocked the sonicboom and, under Pryce's command, rushed in for a take down. Magneton dodged the take down and used sonicboom again, albeit much weaker though, since it was conjured quicker. Piloswine used detect again, successfully blocking the move, and followed up with blizzard.

Magneton seemed to slow down for this second attack, and after piloswine landed a successful take down, Niko decided to change his strategy as well.

"Magneton, return. Croconaw, I choose you!" Niko shouted, summoning his disobedient pokémon.

"Why is he using croconaw? Doesn't it refuse to listen to him?" Brittany asked. It appeared that neither JJ nor Fay could provide an answer to this, and insisted on continuing to watch the match.

"Croconaw, use whirlpool!" Niko commanded. Instead, the big jaw pokémon turned to its trainer and scoffed, choosing to run over and jump in the pool. However, after realizing how cold the water it, croconaw immediately leapt back out and was intercepted by piloswine, who used take down on it.

The water type looked up at piloswine and growled under its breath. It then ran at the swine pokémon, who dodged its rather feeble attempts at attacking and used detect whenever they were about to. Piloswine eventually used another take down which croconaw struggled to recover from.

"Croconaw, what are you doing?" Niko shouted. "You want to win, don't you?"

Croconaw turned to Niko and scowled at him, then turned to piloswine, who was racing towards the big jaw pokémon once more. With a final take down, croconaw was defeated.

"Croconaw is unable to battle, piloswine wins! Niko will send out his next pokémon!" The judge declared.

Niko, furious at both himself and croconaw, took out his third pokéball. "Noctowl, let's go!"

"A flying type? Interesting choice, Niko," Pryce commented, looking up at the large owl. "Piloswine, use blizzard!"

"Noctowl we can fight this! I believe that we can! Use steel wing!" Niko commanded, throwing out a very numb hand in front of him. The owl pokémon dove down at its opponent, braving the gust of cold air as its wings began to glow a light gray color. It collided with piloswine, only to learn that it had used detect to effectively dodge the move.

Niko scowled. This battle wasn't easy. But then again, no one ever told him it would be. He just had to be persevering. "Noctowl, use steel wing again!" He commanded.

Once again, the owl pokémon dove down at piloswine, its wings glowing. This time the attack landed, sending both pokémon sliding across the battlefield. Once the cloud of powdered ice dissipated, noctowl was still standing.

"Piloswine is unable to battle, noctowl wins! Pryce will now send out his final pokémon!" The judge declared.

"Dewgong, you're up! Use icy wind!"

"Noctowl, brave the cold air! Use steel wing again!" Niko commanded for a third time. Noctowl attempted to repeat the move, diving into dewgong who unleashed a powerful gust of cold air in its direction. The attack landed, but noctowl's vulnerability to ice type moves ultimately did it in.

"Noctowl is unable to battle, dewgong wins! Niko will now send out his final pokémon!"

"Magneton, let's go!" Niko commanded. He realized that dewgong would be more difficult to defeat than Pryce's seel was, and warned magneton to be more cautious as a result. "Use thunder wave!"

"Evade the move, dewgong! You know the drill!" Pryce shouted. The sea lion leapt into the water once again, evading the thunderwave. It jumped back out of the water onto the icy battlefield and unleashed a powerful aurora beam at magneton, who dodged and retaliated with thunderbolt. The attack hit, but dewgong was far from defeated.

"Magneton, use thunderbolt again!" Niko shouted out. The move hit dewgong in exchange for aurora beam, knocking both pokémon several feet backwards. "Now, finish it off with sonicboom!"

"Dewgong, use rest!" Pryce commanded. The sea lion began to fall asleep, its body emitting a bright white glow, as if it were evolving. "Hmm…now, when dewgong wakes up it will be at full health. It might be checkmate, Niko."

"Maybe so. But not for me. Magneton, use thunderbolt!"

The magnet pokémon vibrated wildly as it unleashed a bolt of electricity at its opponent. Then, on Niko's command, finished off the dewgong with a sonicboom. The sea lion fell backwards, having just woken up prior to the sonicboom landing.

"Dewgong is unable to battle, magneton wins! The victory goes to Niko!" The judge declared.

Niko held his arms out as a tired magneton floated over to embrace its trainer. Fay, Brittany, and JJ joined Niko down at his end of the field while Pryce and his grandson walked across the edge of the battlefield to join them. As he did so, the gym leader pulled out two gym badges from his coat pocket and handed them to Niko and Fay.

"Congrats boys, you have both earned the glacier badge. They say that every gym battle teaches a challenger something new, but I would like to think that they teach gym leaders something new, as well. In this case, I have learned that I need something to counter electric types! Hah!"

Niko and Fay smiled rather sheepishly. Both of their electric types single-handedly defeated two of Pryce's pokémon each. He was correct, but they were certainly to blame for that.

After thanking Pryce for the battle, the group left the gym and walked back to the pokémon center to relax and plan out the next leg of their journey, the destination of which would be Niko and Fay's final gym match in the Johto region.


	39. Episode 39: Earthquake and evolution!

**39: Route 44—teddiursa evolves—Jacob and Cody once more**

Back at the pokémon center, the group sat down to discuss the next part of their journey. The destination was Blackthorn City, where Niko and Fay would challenge Clair for their final gym badge in Johto.

"Well, it's a pretty straightforward path, actually," JJ said, looking at the map. "Just Route 44 and the Ice Cave. After that, Blackthorn City is just down the road."

"So how long should it take?" Niko wondered. Since they arrived in Johto he had known that Clair would be the toughest gym leader that he'd ever faced, and wanted to get in as much training as possible.

"Couple days probably. Maybe a week if we spend more time training. It's really up to you two."

"Oh thank god," Niko muttered, then looked up at his friends. "This is going to be a difficult gym I think. I want to be as prepared as possible."

"Oh, I totally agree Niko," Fay responded. "Dragon types are hard to beat. Neither of us have any ice or dragon types. Well, that's not true; seadra knows twister actually. But I'm thinking of bringing back dragonair to help me out as well."

"That's a smart idea. Why don't you do that with shellder, Niko?" Brittany asked.

"I've thought about it, but I'd rather stick with what I have right now. I would have liked to teach croconaw ice punch, but since its not listening to me I guess I should give up on that for now."

"Why give up on it? Croconaw is your pokémon, you have to train it," JJ said with a slightly scolding tone.

"Well, yeah I know that. But croconaw doesn't _want_ to listen to me. It's one thing if I'm not actively trying to train it, but a completely different thing if the pokémon doesn't even want to be trained. I've tried, you've all seen that. But I can't imagine getting it to listen to me _and_ teach it ice punch all in a matter of days when it has refused to listen to me for over a month now!"

The group went silent for a moment. It was clear to them that Niko was upset by this. Of his four pokémon, one of them—arguably one of his stronger ones—was refusing to listen to him, regardless of what he did. Hearing his side of the story, and all being trainers themselves, Fay, Brittany, and JJ understood where their friend was coming from.

"Sorry, Niko. I guess I just didn't realize what was going on in your head," JJ said, petting azurill who was cooing happily.

Niko sighed. "It's fine, JJ. I'm not upset at you or anyone here. I think I'm more upset at myself. I let it happen. That's why I'm trying to be more helpful and positive around the other three, in hopes that maybe I can make things better that way."

"I've noticed that. But you have to show that to croconaw, too," Brittany said, resting her hand on top of Niko's. "Show croconaw that you do care. Maybe it'll make it come to its senses?"

"Thanks Brittany. I'll try that. See what happens," Niko said with a smirk in the corner of his mouth. "Anyways! Let's get back on the road. We did shopping earlier today, so I think we're ready to go, right?"

"Yeah, think so. Got another set of coats for us all, since we'll be travelling through ice cave," Brittany said, picking up a shopping bag from under the table and handing out the coats for each of her male companions.

The trip down Route 44, as expected, took a couple of days. Along the way, Niko and Fay spent some time training. Niko trained yanma, magneton, and noctowl while croconaw sat under some shade and tried sleeping. This is exactly what Niko was hoping for—for his starter pokémon to see him working with its teammates. Whether it worked or not, Niko couldn't really tell. At this point, it was difficult to tell with the big jaw pokémon.

As for the actual training itself, Niko and Fay went through a list of what they knew about dragon types. As Fay was a dragon owner himself, understood this best. He figured that Clair would have a dragonair or dragonite at least. They went through the list of dragon types according to the pokédex and found only four known in Johto and Kanto—dratini, dragonair, dragonite, and kingdra. Even though the latter was not specifically weak to electric moves, Niko would use magneton against it. During their days on the road, Niko and Fay went through some practice battles with seadra and magneton, so that he could get a feel for how to fight the dragon pokémon.

Fay, on the other hand, figured that brute force might defeat the dragons. After convincing Niko of this, the two set to work on improving the speed of their pokémon. This wasn't too hard for Niko, since yanma and noctowl were already agile enough. Fay, on the other hand, needed to get teddiursa and flaaffy to run and evade faster, and as such put them to work every day doing such.

While the two occasionally battled against JJ's or Brittany's pokémon for practice, it wasn't until they crossed paths with two familiar faces that they were able to get quality practice in.

"Jacob? Cody?" Fay said, looking down the river they were sitting by. The two black-haired trainers noticed Niko and Fay waving, and jogged over immediately.

"Hey guys! Long time no see!" Jacob said, shaking their hands. Cody did the same, his tablet in hand.

"Yeah no kidding. How've you been?" Fay asked, motioning the two to sit down with them.

"Not bad. Just training now in preparation for the Silver Conference. You guys are participating in it, right?"

"We plan to, yeah. Just need one more badge," Niko said, pulling out his badge case showing seven of their eight badges.

"Oh wow! So does that leave you with Blackthorn?" Jacob wondered. Niko and Fay nodded." She's tough. Cody barely etched out a win, but I had to rematch her. Caught a swinub in the Ice Cave up the road and was able to beat her on the second try, but barely."

"That's all we've heard about her, actually," Niko said, shrugging. "We've been at it for the past couple of days trying to prepare for it."

"Good idea. Keep doing that. You'll need it," Jacob said. "Say, how about a battle then? Just to see where you two are at? Me and Niko and Cody and Fay?"

"Sounds good to me," Fay responded.

"Yeah, I'm down," Cody nodded, pulling out a pokéball.

"Excellent! Two on two, like last time?" Jacob suggested.

"You're on!" Niko said, getting up and running away from their small campsite to get ready to battle. Jacob did the same, standing a dozen yard away to give them ample distance to battle.

"Let's do this, then. Marowak, you're up!"

"Yanma, I choose you!" Niko shouted, sending out his bug type.

"Huh? I thought you didn't like bugs, Niko," Jacob said with a bemused look.

"I don't. Yanma is the exception. It liked me first. Anyways, use double team!"

"Marowak, use thrash!" Jacob commanded. The bone keeper pokémon leapt at each copy, slamming its fists and feet at the yanma copies, all of whom were using quick attack of sonicboom in retaliation, which quickly exhausted the ground type. Once it finally got to the real yanma, marowak slammed its bone on the clear wing pokémon's head, knocking it into the ground. "Now follow up with dynamicpunch!"

"Maroooo-WAK!" It yelled out as its fist began to glow, slamming it into yanma's face and launching the bug type several feet backwards.

"Yanma, can you get up?" Niko asked. His bug type nodded, slowly rising above the ground. "Great! Use sonicboom!"

Yanma unleashed a wave of sonic energy at marowak, who didn't take the attack directly, but did feel the force of it as it tried to evade. The bone keeper pokémon was knocked off its feet, and yanma was able to then finish it off with a quick attack.

"Return, marowak. You did a great job. Skarmory, you're up! Use fly!"

Skarmory launched into the air and dove back down immediately, as if using sky attack, but a far weaker version. Yanma dodged the attack and used double team in response.

"Use steel wing!" Jacob commanded. Skarmory rushed in a circle, eliminating each yanma copy as they appeared. Within mere moments the double team was useless, and yanma got hit with the steel wing at a speed almost equivalent to Elliot's scizor. Yanma crashed into the ground, defeated.

"Return, Yanma. Magneton, you're up!" Niko shouted.

"Ah, nice choice. Guess your magnemite evolved, then?" Jacob asked, smirking a little. Niko nodded, albeit a little more serious.

"Yeah, it did. Magneton, use thunderwave!"

"Skarmory, dodge with fly!" Jacob commanded. The armor bird pokémon narrowly missed the thunderwave as it soared into the sky, only to dive back down, approaching magneton at an incredible speed.

"Magneton, thunderbolt!" Niko shouted. The thunderbolt hit skarmory as it collided with magneton, and the two steel pokémon crashed into the ground.

"I don't believe it…" Jacob said when he saw skarmory was defeated. "Geez Niko, your magneton is tough…"

"Yeah, I know. It does its best," Niko said with pride. They both returned their pokémon and walked back to the campsite to watch Fay and Cody battle.

"Onix, let's go!" Cody shouted.

"Seadra, you're up!" Fay said. "Use whirlpool!"

"Onix, sandstorm!" The rock snake pokémon whipped up a heavy sandstorm out of nowhere, which diluted the power of the incoming whirlpool. "Now, follow up with iron tail!"

Onix's tail began to glow a bright gray color as it ran it along the side of the field they were on, whacking seadra, who was unaware of the speed and strength of the steel type attack. The sandstorm raged on while seadra attempted to use whirlpool or water gun, but the attacks got diluted enough to render them ineffective.

Realizing this, Fay went for another strategy. "Seadra, use smokescreen!" The dragon pokémon blew out a thick cloud of smoke that covered the space between it and onix. Seadra then moved through the smoke, as Fay had instructed it to do on several occasions previously, and conjured a whirlpool under onix without the rock type expecting it. Onix was lifted into the air by the whirlpool and came crashing down, shaking the earth beneath it.

"Now finish it off with water gun!" Fay commanded. Seadra then dealt the final blow to the rock snake.

"Onix, return," Cody said, not looking disappointed in the least. "You had me there Fay. But you have to admit, I made it more difficult for you."

"Yeah, you did. I've never battled against anything that can use sandstorm, so nice job on the surprise. What's next?"

Cody smirked. "Donphan, I choose you!"

"Donphan?" Niko asked, pulling out his pokédex. Brittany and JJ leaned over to take a look as well:

" _Donphan, the armor pokémon. Ground type. Because this pokémon's skin is so tough, a normal attack won't even leave a scratch on it_."

"Hmm…your phanpy evolved?"

Cody nodded. "Yup, just last week. But it won't be easy to beat, you know. Donphan, use rollout!"

"Seadra, water gun!" Fay said in hopes that the burst of water would slow down his opponent. Turns out it didn't, and the rollout hit seadra, knocking it over. Donphan rolled back around to strike again, but was met with a large cloud of smoke.

"Donphan, stop and use earthquake!" Cody shouted out. He was getting fired up now, too, which almost seemed unusual for him.

The ground below began to shake violently as the smoke disappeared, leaving a defeated seadra in the middle of the battlefield.

"Wow, you're just full of surprises today, aren't ya Cody?" Fay chuckled. "Well, no matter. Teddiursa, you're up!"

"Alright Fay, get ready to lose. Donphan, use rollout!"

"Teddiursa, we haven't tried this move in an official battle yet, but let's give it a shot here. Use faint attack!"

The little bear pokémon waited for donphan to get close before it disappeared and then immediately reappeared as donphan halted its rollout, slamming into the softer side of the armor pokémon.

"Now follow up with slash!" Fay commanded. Teddiursa did so, striking its paw at donphan's side again.

"Donphan, use earthquake!" Cody shouted. Fay figured that he was going for broke at this point, but wasn't giving in.

"Teddiursa, jump on donphan!"

As the earthquake began, the little bear leapt on top of donphan to protect itself. Once it stopped, teddiursa jumped back off to face its opponent once again, eye to eye.

"Donphan, use horn attack!" Cody commanded.

"Teddiursa, dodge it with faint attack!" Fay shouted. As donphan was about to strike its opponent with the horn attack, the latter disappeared and suddenly reappeared on donphan's side, striking in the same spot it had before. "Nice job, teddiursa! You're doing great!"

Teddiursa smiled happily as it began to glow, illuminating the field with a bright white light. It began to grow to nearly three times its size. Once the glow disappeared, it was a completely different pokémon. While still a bear, it was far larger and far more intimidating. Fay pulled out his pokédex:

" _Ursaring, the hibernator pokémon. Normal type. Although it has a large body, it is quite skilled at climbing trees. It eats and sleeps in the treetops_."

"Wow…" Fay said, looking up at his new pokémon. "Alright then, ursaring! Let's finish this off! Use slash!"

"Don't give in, donphan! Use rollout!"

The two evolved pokémon collided, with ursaring halting donphan in its place and slashing at its trunk. For the first time, donphan yelped in pain. Ursaring then picked donphan up and threw it down onto the ground. Donphan was defeated.

"Geez, and I thought I was the one with the surprises today," Cody said, laughing off his defeat as he returned donphan. "Good job, Fay and ursaring."

"Thanks for the battle, Cody. I think we both learned things today, right?"

Cody nodded in response. The two shook hands and turned to their friends, who were still dazed from the multiple earthquakes.

"Guys…it wasn't _that_ bad…" Fay said.

"Yeah, you're right, Fay. We were sitting down, I suppose," Jacob said, looking green in the face. "Just…be more careful when you do that, Cody? You'd think that after travelling with you for so long, I'd have gotten used to it. Guess freakin' not!"

"Man up Jacob and stop whining!" Cody said, Jacob's back as he was about to feel very sick. "Anyways, we should probably get going. We're meeting a friend in Mahogany Town to train with for a bit."

"Alright, and good luck with that! We'll see you both at the Silver Conference hopefully!" Niko said, smiling.

"Yeah you got that right!" Jacob said, starting to feel a little better.

They shook hands with the group as they prepared to head off for Mahogany Town. The group then packed up their own things and turned in the opposite direction: towards the Ice Cave and Blackthorn City.


	40. Episode 40: The delivery pokémon

**Episode 40: The delivery pokémon**

The group arrived at the Ice Cave roughly a day after their encounter with Cody and Jacob. Knowing that it would take some time to get through, and to protect themselves from the frigid temperatures inside the cave, the four trainers spent the night outside of the cave entrance, choosing instead to travel the following morning.

As they imagined, the Ice Cave was cold. Very cold. It was also dark, and so Fay summoned flaaffy to use flash to light their way. Travelling through the cavern was not as easy as they had imagined. There were several tunnels that seemed to go in different directions, many of them leading them to dead ends. After a while they stopped in a relatively large opening that led into three new tunnels.

"Guys…there has to be an easier way to get through this…" JJ said, panting as he sat down on the cold ground. "If we keep this up, we'll spend days in this cave."

"JJ's right," Brittany added, pulling out a protein bar from her bag. "We have no idea where we're going."

"Guess you're right…" Niko began, pulling out a bar of his own. "But, I have an idea. How about we split up? And if one of us finds the way out, we'll send for the others!"

"Good idea, Niko. One problem though…" Fay replied. "We don't all have flying pokémon like you do."

"That's easily fixable! Here, take yanma. Brittany, JJ, you take noctowl," Niko said, throwing out two pokéballs to his friends.

"And what about you?" Brittany said, eying her friend. "Also, what if your pokémon get cold trying to find the rest of us?"

"Good point. Err…I'll have magneton, actually. It can float, right?"

"That works. And I have beedrill, so Brittany can take noctowl and go off on her own. Is that alright with you?" JJ asked. His brunette friend gave him a bemused look, but shook it off and didn't think much of it.

"Alright, well, let's split up and one of the pokémon will go and reach the others when we find the way out, how's that?" Niko said, clapping his hands and quickly realizing what a mistake that was. His friends all nodded, stood up, and walked in different directions in search of the cave exit.

JJ took the path closest to their resting spot. It was actually the direction they had come from, but there were other paths back through the tunnel that they didn't check out, and so he figured he might as well try those. He has growlithe at his side, walking and warming up the tunnel they were in. He chose to put azurill in its pokéball so it wouldn't freeze to death. Eventually they got back to the fork in the road that they had previously been to, and took the tunnel to their left. Dead end.

JJ sighed. He knew it might be a long day.

Meanwhile, Brittany walked alongside her wartortle, who seemed to be fine with the temperature in the caves. Like JJ, she chose to keep her baby pokémon in its pokéball for purposes of keeping it warm. She also sighed as they hit another quick dead end. She took the path to the right of their resting spot, and while it led to three separate tunnels after that, two of them were dead ends.

At least she knew which one was the correct one.

Fay and quilava walked side by side for the same purposes as JJ. They too tried to keep warm. He didn't quite get how Niko's idea would be effective, if at all, but he rolled with it all the same. In his mind, that was Niko's problem: he went into things without thinking them completely through. This played out in some of his battles in particular, or how he talked to others. But he also understood that like Niko, he was once like that. _Everyone has their moments_ , Fay thought, _and everyone makes mistakes or slips up in their speech_.

He took the left path from their resting spot. After making it through one tunnel, he noticed a ladder that seemed to lead down somewhere, looking to quilava, who nodded in return, the two made their way down the ladder to see what was below.

Niko, on the other hand, took the center path from their resting spot. He was walking side by side with magneton, who didn't seem to mind the cold. He spent most of his time alone thinking. His last gym battle in Johto would be coming up, and after that hopefully the Silver Conference. As he walked alongside one of his closest pokémon, he relayed his thoughts as they came to him.

"So, magneton," Niko began, "We're about to go for our last badge here. You feel nervous?" He looked at the magnet pokémon, who buzzed quietly. "I don't know what to make of that, but I certainly am. I don't know…I guess I just don't know how to feel. Travelling through Johto has been incredible, but sometimes I feel like I'm not living up to that promise I kept for you guys back at Indigo Plateau. You know…the one where I wanted to be a trainer you can all be proud of? I think it was a promise, at least. I may not have said it, but I was thinking it."

Magneton turned to its trainer with a curious look in its eyes. "Heh. Well, I know I've trained you well. That much I can be proud of. But what about croconaw? I feel like I have actually failed it. And it's not like it can take much of the blame. I feel like if I wasn't so hard on it maybe it wouldn't have lashed out like it did. Maybe it wouldn't have stopped listening to me like it did. You know?"

Magneton kept staring at its trainer. They had stopped and looked at one another. Trainer and pokémon.

"Do you think I messed up?" Niko asked. The electric type hovered there for a moment before giving Niko a serious look. "I'll take that as a yes. I know that if I been mean to you, you'd have made be pay for it, too. Do you think croconaw is holding some sort of grudge against me? Like, it's just trying to make me pay?"

Magneton thought for a moment, and shrugged in the best way that it could.

"You don't know? That's fair. Maybe it doesn't even know," Niko looked at the tunnel in front of them. "Anyways, c'mon, let's get going."

As they took another step forward, the brown-haired trainer felt the ground under him collapse. He kept falling for what seemed like forever. At one point, he may have grabbed onto magneton, but then everything went dark.

* * *

After what seemed like hours, JJ and growlithe finally made it some progress. They were in an enormous room now. What looked like an underground lake covering the entire floor of the room was now frozen over. He looked around with the puppy pokémon until he found a ladder. Curious, he turned to growlithe who shrugged, and the two went up the ladder only to enter into another room, similar to their resting spot but not as large. As they continued down the path in front of them, they saw human-sized footprints next to four smaller ones.

"Fay must have been down this path…" JJ said, turning to growlithe. "Maybe he has the right idea. Although…we haven't seen yanma yet, so let's keep going. Maybe he hasn't found the way out yet either."

Meanwhile, Brittany and wartortle kept hitting dead ends, and it certainly didn't feel like they were making any progress. Eventually they too reached a large room with a frozen lake covering the floor of it. Cautiously walking across it, they eventually made it to what seemed to be a set of stairs. Looking curiously at one another, they took the stairs up through to what looked to be another tunnel.

Fay and quilava went down the stairs to see what was at the bottom, and all they had found was a large frozen lake and a set of stairs that went back up. Looking around the room and seeing nothing of note in the room, the trainer and his pokémon took the stairs to see where those led. By the time they got to the top of the stairs, they reached another tunnel and took that path down. As they did so, they saw noctowl flying towards them.

"Hey! Noctowl!" Fay said, running down the tunnel to find Brittany. The brunette was sitting at the end of the cave with wartortle at her side. "Brittany!" Fay shouted in a pant.

"Fay! You made it!" Brittany shouted back, running up and embracing her friend.

"Is anyone else here?"

Brittany shook her head. "No, just you. Waiting on JJ and Niko now. That's why I sent out noctowl to look for you all."

"Alright, well, let's hope that they get here soon. I'd hate to see something happen to them…"

* * *

Niko could hear magneton buzzing around, as if trying to communicate with something. He opened his eyes and felt an incredible pain in his leg. Cringing for a moment while gripping the injury, he looked up and saw magneton "talking" with an odd looking bird holding a sack of some sort.

"Magneton…what…?" Niko said, now rubbing the part of his leg that was hurting. Magneton turned to its trainer and buzzed around excitedly. The little bird also turned to Niko was cocked its head to the side, as if confused.

"Deli?" It asked with a bemused look.

"What the…? What are you?" Niko asked. Curious, he pulled out his pokédex:

" _Delibird, the delivery pokémon. Ice and flying type. It carries food all day long. There are tales about lost people who were saved by the food it had_."

"Huh…alright then, delibird, err…what are you doing here?"

Delibird continued to look at Niko with its bemused expression. After a minute or so, it pulled out a couple of berries from its sack and handed them to the human.

"Uhh…thanks, delibird. I appreciate that," Niko said as he ate the berries. They were far too sour for his taste, but he forced them down. "Are these supposed to make me feel better?"

Delibird nodded cheerfully.

"Well, thanks again. Now, if you'll excuse us, magneton and I need to get out of this place—OW!" The trainer yelped as he tried to stand up, but with an injured leg he was left falling back onto the ground. "Now…magneton, what happened? Did I fall?"

Magneton buzzed a little; delibird nodded, pointing to the hole in the ceiling directly above them.

"So I feel from there…guess I must have grabbed onto magneton to ease the fall, or else my leg would be in two pieces now…dammit, I don't even know where I am!"

Delibird reached for its sack again and pulled out something else; this time a little present.

"Oh…what's that?" Niko asked as he reached for the gift. As he was about to touch it, delibird threw it across the frozen lake that they were sitting on. The gift exploded in midair. "Oh…err…what was that?"

"Deli! Deli!" Delibird reached in and grabbed another gift, this time placing it on Niko's leg. Suddenly, the gift began to glow, and exploded into what looked like shiny dust particles. The particles fell onto Niko's leg, and moments later he seemed to feel better.

"Did you just…?" Niko looked up at delibird, who cheered loudly, as if it was the first time the delivery pokémon had ever healed something. "Well, thanks, delibird. I really appreciate your help. You didn't have to do that for me…"

Niko stood up and looked at magneton. "Now, let's head out, buddy. I imagine our friends are already out of the cave."

They were just about to leave when they saw noctowl flying down into the large room with the lake. Niko smiled and waved as his owl pokémon joined the group.

"Sorry we're late buddy. I took a nasty fall from that hole up there. This delibird here healed me back up, and I'm ready to go!"

Noctowl nodded and led the way back out of the cave. Minutes later they joined the group at the cave's exit.

"Niko!" Brittany shouted as she ran up and embraced the brown-haired trainer. "What happened? You've been gone for a while!"

"Took a fall and landed on this frozen lake with magneton. I woke up with and injured leg and this pokémon called delibird helped…" Niko turned to his left to see delibird standing right next to him. "…me."

"Well, lucky that it did!" Fay said, "Now, let's head off to Blackthorn City!"

Niko nodded and turned to delibird. "Thanks for the help, delibird, but I think I'm good to go here. We have to keep going on our journey."

As Niko began to walk down the path with his friends and pokémon, delibird began to follow.

"Niko…" JJ said, pointing to delibird. "I think it wants to join you."

"Oh…really?" Niko asked, looking down at the little ice bird. "Is this true?"

Delibird nodded. "Deli! Deli deli!"

"Heh, alright then. As a token of my thanks, if you want to join my team, you're more than welcome to. But you'll be battling a lot. Is that okay with you?" Niko cautioned as he pulled out an empty pokéball. Delibird nodded, this time with a more serious expression. "Got it. Pokéball, go!"

Niko threw the pokéball at delibird, who turned red and went inside the ball. It began to wiggle a bit before clicking moments later. Niko picked up the pokéball and turned to his friends.

"That might have been one of the easiest captures I've had, to be honest."

He and his friends laughed for a moment before walking down the road ahead. Nearly 15 minutes later, they finally reached Blackthorn City.


	41. Episode 41: Dragon village

**Episode 41: Dragon village**

In the aftermath of their confusing journey through the Ice Cave, the group arrived in Blackthorn City, where Fay and Niko would battle for their eighth and final gym badge in Johto. First thing they did was head to the pokémon center to heal up their pokémon and rest.

"So, when do you think we should challenge Clair?" Niko asked as they sat down.

"I'm thinking maybe tomorrow? We've still got some time today to train. And like I said, I want to bring dragonair back for this gym battle. I think it will give me the edge against her."

"No worries. I want to train with this delibird for a bit. I don't really know anything about it."

"Well you said it healed you, right?" Brittany wondered.

"Yeah it did. It pulled out some gift from its sack and at first it exploded, but delibird pulled out another one and it healed up."

"Oh!" Fay exclaimed. "I've heard of that. It's called present. It can either heal or hurt the opponent based on random chance."

"Ah…that makes a lot of sense, actually," Niko said, biting into his sandwich. "Well, I'll see what else it learns, then," he pulled out his pokédex. "What moves can delibird learn?"

 _"_ _Present._ "

"Okay, I know that. What _other_ moves does it learn?"

" _Present._ "

"Yes. I know that, pokédex! I want to know the moves that delibird can _learn_."

" _Present._ "

"I take it that delibird only learns present, then," JJ muttered before taking a sip from his soda.

"Well, that's great," Niko said in a disappointing tone. "Oh well, I'll figure out how to train it."

The group finished their meal and while they settled in their room at the pokémon center, Fay went to call Pallet Town to get dragonair. Moments later he walked into the room holding a pokéball and smirking.

"Is that dragonair?" Brittany asked. Fay nodded happily.

"Apparently it learned a new move, too. Dragonbreath!"

"Well that's pretty cool," Niko commented. "Think it will help out at all against Clair?"

Fay nodded. "I can imagine that it will, since it's a dragon type move. Now, I'm gonna head out to the battlefield here and train for a bit. Niko, feel like joining me?"

"Yeah, I'll be out there in a minute," Fay nodded again and walked back out of the room. Brittany and JJ were both setting their stuff down while Niko grabbed his pokéballs and followed his friend outside.

"They're pretty determined to win this one," JJ commented to Brittany after Niko left.

"Yeah, and for good reason, too. It's their last gym battle here. Maybe their last gym battle ever."

"Why do you reckon that?" JJ asked.

"Well think about it. Niko didn't want to come to Johto originally, right? It was because we were all going that he wanted to. We kind of convinced him to continue travelling, because he loves doing it."

"But that doesn't mean he'll stop battling gyms, does it?"

"I don't know, maybe it does. Maybe the Silver Conference is the end of the road. Niko has never said what his dream is, has he?" JJ shook his head. "And Fay enjoys the technical side of things, so I can imagine he'll stop challenging gyms eventually."

"I guess I never really thought about it like that," JJ said as they left the room. He looked down at the ground. "Wow…you're right, this might be it."

"Well, JJ, I am sure we'll still all travel. But maybe not as much. I think that even if we did travel, they won't challenge gyms. I could be wrong, but I can't see it continuing. This stresses Niko out a lot, and Fay is more interested in other things, y'know?"

JJ nodded again. He didn't like what he was hearing, but Brittany did have a point. While they'd both expressed interest in _something_ , Niko clearly hadn't, besides an interest in travelling. But that can't be a dream, or something to work towards. JJ felt like there needed to be something more concrete to it. Something that Niko could progress with; have successes and failures in trying to achieve a goal. One can't do that with travelling. Sure, it's easy to say that your goal or dream in life is to travel the world, but Niko needed something with more depth to it. At least, JJ believed that he did.

They approached the battlefield in the back of the pokémon center. Fay was already outside training his full team of pokémon, including dragonair. They were starting off with basic exercises. Niko was introducing his pokémon to delibird, who seemed to get along with everyone except croconaw, who walked over to a bench and laid down on it. Seeing this and not quite understanding why the big jaw pokémon was doing this, delibird walked up to its new teammate and offered it a berry.

Croconaw eyed the delivery pokémon for a moment. It then looked at the berry, and back at delibird. With some hesitation, croconaw took the berry and ate it. For what it was worth, the water type seemed to enjoy the food. Delibird smiled happily, turning back to Niko, who had seen the whole thing.

"Thanks for that, delibird. I think croconaw really liked it. Now, let's get to training, shall we?" Niko said as he motioned over his newest pokémon. "Now, magneton, yanma, noctowl, I want you three to work on your usual exercises. Magneton, speed is important. I'm going to rely on you a lot in this coming battle, just like last time. We need to focus on improving the speed in which you release thunderwave, so just work on charging up the energy for that. Yanma, noctowl, same goes for you. Speed is essential here. Noctowl, I want you to practice hypnosis. We'll see if Brittany and JJ can help out, but just practice releasing it for now. Delibird, you're with me."

Niko led the delivery pokémon over to a secluded area of the battlefield and sat down next to it.

"You haven't trained with me before, but I want to focus on your speed. I understand you only have one move, right? Present?"

Delibird nodded, pulling out a present from its sack. It quickly panicked as it tossed the present around like a hot potato. Eventually the present exploded in midair over croconaw, who leapt off the bench in a frenzy. Niko chuckled under his breath, amused by the big jaw pokémon's reaction.

"Well, we'll work on that. But I need you to focus on your ability to dodge attacks. Fay showed me this really easy exercise to do that. You just have to jump back and forth. Like this…see?" Niko said as he imitated the training exercise. Delibird nodded as it put the sack down and copied its trainer. "Yeah, you got it! Just keep doing that for a little bit, alright?"

"Deli!"

"Heh, that's the spirit. You're doing great, magneton! Keep it up!" Niko shouted to the magnet pokémon after seeing a particularly fast thunderwave.

Meanwhile, Fay had given his pep talk to his team, and was focusing on specific moves he knew would be useful against Clair.

"Alright guys, final gym battle. I don't know yet what our lineup will be, but I think you could all do very well against dragons. They're tough, right dragonair?" Dragonair nodded silently. "Exactly. So sudowoodo, I want you to work on improving rock throw. Let's see if you can use multiple rocks at the same time. Ursaring, since you're much bigger now, we need to work on your evasive skills. Let's do the dodging exercise for a bit, alright? Seadra, you and dragonair are my aces in this match. Seadra, let's work on twister. Dragonair, I want to see how you use dragonbreath, and let's also practice dragon rage again. Quilava, I want you to work on evasion with ursaring. Flaaffy, let's try and get your thunderwave down pat and also work on your thunderpunch. Got it?"

His team cheered as they also went to work. For the next couple of hours they practiced and practiced. Eventually, they all seemed to wear themselves out. As the sun began to set, Niko and Fay returned their pokémon and walked back into the pokémon center, where Brittany and JJ were sitting down with their own pokémon.

"How'd the training go?" Brittany asked as her two friends sat down across from her and JJ.

"Not bad. I think we're gonna do pretty well tomorrow," Fay replied, looking pretty confident. Niko also nodded, albeit slightly less enthusiastically. Brittany took note, but didn't think too much of it as they began eating dinner.

Later that night, as the group went to bed, Niko turned and looked at croconaw. Normally the big jaw pokémon had difficulty sleeping, usually because all it did was nap during the day. That night in particular, Niko noticed that it was the first to fall asleep. Delibird seems the most restless of them all, as it was excited for its first gym battle. Niko had decided to use delibird since it would likely never get a chance to battle in an official gym battle, and it seemed excited to do so. Niko appreciated its energy and spirit. He didn't have many pokémon with as much of it as his newest pokémon. He then found himself in dream land rather quickly, only waking up when delibird began fidgeting in its sleep.

The following morning, the group all woke up at roughly the same time, taking turns to shower and get dressed before heading out to grab breakfast. They figured that Niko and Fay could get some last minute training in before they head off to the gym. The two did so, and roughly an hour and a half later they were walking up the hill to the gym.

The Blackthorn City gym was at the top of the hill overlooking the entire city, and resting on the edge of a large lake that led to some cave of sorts. As they approached the gym they noticed it was closed.

"Oh, what the heck? Usually gyms are closed…" Fay said, peering in through the window of the front door. "I can't really see anything guys…I guess the gym leader is out for right now."

"Well, what should we do instead?" Niko asked.

"No idea. Maybe just wait around here?" JJ responded.

Niko sat down against the wall of the gym. "Guess that's what we'll do for now. Wonder where Clair is…"

Brittany, JJ, and Fay all followed suit, waiting for the final gym leader to show herself and accept Fay and Niko's challenges.

* * *

 **Author's note: I know, kind of a short episode by this season's standards. All I wanted to do was set the scene for the final gym battle against Clair, and I figured I could do that with a shorter episode and now have to drag it out too much.**


	42. Episode 42: The Dragon Queen, Part 1

**Episode 42: The Dragon Queen, Part 1**

"What are you kids doing here?"

The group had been waiting at the entrance of the Blackthorn gym for what ended up being only half an hour when they heard a woman speaking to them from the edge of the hill in front of them.

"Waiting for the gym leader, actually," Fay responded, finally looking up. Staring down at him and his friends was a rather tall woman with long, light blue hair tied up in a ponytail. She wore long boots and something that resembled a low-cut jumpsuit, gloves, a necklace with a rather larger orb on it, and a cape.

"Ah," she said in an authoritative tone, "Well, come on in then. I am the gym leader. My name is Clair."

She opened the door to the gym, motioning for the group to follow her. The inside of the Blackthorn gym was an ordinary battlefield for the most part. The only exception were the dragon statues blowing fire vertically into the air.

"So!" Clair said, turning around, "Are you all here to challenge me?"

"No ma'am, only Niko and I. My name is Fay."

"Very well, Niko, Fay, you will both battle me in a five-on-five pokémon battle. If you win, I will give you the Rising badge. Who will go first?"

Niko stepped forward, as it was Fay who challenged Pryce first in their last gym match. Clair nodded, and proceeded over to her end of the battlefield and, with incredible speed, conjured a pokéball into her right hand. Nervously, Niko pulled out his own.

"Dratini, I choose you!"

"Delibird, let's go!" Niko shouted as he summoned his overexcited delivery bird pokémon. "Let's use present!"

"Deliii!" Delibird cried out as it pulled out a gift from its sack and tossed it at dratini, who dodged the move and used thunderwave. The counter-stun landed, paralyzing delibird.

"Fight through it delibird, you can do it!" Niko shouted.

"Dratini, use dragonbreath!" Clair commanded. The little dragon pokémon unleashed a yellow-orange colored fire from its maw that hit delibird in the face, knocking the ice type backwards and onto the ground.

"Delibird get up! You can fight this!" Niko yelled. Slowly the delivery pokémon struggled to get back up, clearly not expecting battling to be this tough. It glared at dratini with a determined look, and set off towards its opponent, sack in hand.

"Dratini, dragon rage!" Clair commanded. Dratini blew out purple flames at its opponent who agilely dodged them, pulled out a present, and threw it at dratini. It exploded in the dragon's face, knocking it backwards. Delibird repeated the attack, but tossed the healing ones behind it, as it had a keen sense of which presents did what. Dratini landed another dragon rage on delibird, but eventually it fell to the multiple presents lobbed at it.

"Dratini is unable to battle, delibird wins!" Clair's judge declared.

Clair's jaw was dropped a little in shock. How could a measly delibird beat one of _her_ dragons? "F-fine. You think a delibird can beat my team of well-trained dragons? So be it. Gyarados, let's go!"

Delibird, intimidated by the sheer size of the gyarados in front of it, immediately turned around and ran towards Niko, presents falling behind in its wake.

"Gyarados, use dragon rage!" Clair shouted angrily. The atrocious pokémon unleashed powerful purple flames at delibird, who once again dodged them rather skillfully.

"Delibird, you can't be scared. Great battlers aren't scared, right?" Niko said, crouching down and reassuring his new pokémon. "You can do this. Don't be afraid."

Delibird nodded nervously, turning to gyarados. Gathering up all of its courage, it ran back towards its opponent, grabbing a present out of its sack before taking flight above the field, lobbing exploding gifts at the gyarados, who retaliated by launching dragon rages from its maw. Delibird managed to dodge most of them, but once it got hit it was knocked out of the air and collided with the ground below. Delibird struggled to get back up, but found it rather difficult to do so.

"Delibird is unable to battle, gyarados wins! Niko will send out his second pokémon!" The judge declared.

"Great job delibird. For a first try you did really well. Magneton, I choose you!"

"Ugh, an electric type? How typical, Niko," Clair teased, beaming at her opponent. "No matter. Gyarados, use dragonbreath!"

The atrocious pokémon belted out the same yellow-orange fire that dratini had previously. Magneton dodged the move and used thunderwave to temporarily stun its opponent. However, due to the size of the gyarados, the stun didn't last too long, and the atrocious pokémon was back at it, unleashing a series of dragon rages and dragonbreaths at the magnet pokémon, who dodged most of them.

"Enough toying around, then. Magneton, use thunderbolt!" Niko shouted, throwing up a hand in the air. Magneton buzzed loudly as it conjured a bolt of electricity that successfully landed atop gyarados, causing it to crash into the ground.

"Gyarados is unable to battle, magneton wins! Clair may now use her third pokémon!" The judge declared.

"Dragonair, let's go!" Clair commanded.

"Magneton, return. I'll need you for later. Noctowl, you're up!" Niko shouted. "Use steel wing!"

"Dragonair, use ice beam!" Clair commanded.

"Noctowl, dodge and switch to hypnosis instead!" Niko commanded. He had a feeling this dragonair would be rather difficult to defeat. The owl pokémon dodged the ray of ice aimed directly at it, and was able to successfully put dragonair to sleep. "Great job, noctowl! Use steel wing now!"

Noctowl dove directly at its opponent and landed the steel type attack. As it came back up for round two, dragonair woke up.

"What!?" Niko shouted, looking panicked now.

"Dragonair, use ice beam!" Clair ordered. The dragon pokémon launched its ice attack once more.

"Noctowl, use steel wing on the ice beam!" Niko shouted, having a sudden moment of inspiration. He hoped his idea would work.

Turns out, it did. Noctowl intercepted the ice beam and ran alongside it towards dragonair, ultimately colliding with the dragon type. The two created a cloud of dust as they collapsed onto the ground.

"Noctowl, use hypnosis again!" Niko commanded.

"Dragonair…thunderbolt," Clair said plainly. The dragon pokémon unleashed a bolt of electricity that surged through the owl. Noctowl cried out as it felt the power of the electricity moving through its body. It stood up and fell backwards, defeated.

"Noctowl is unable to battle, dragonair wins! Niko will send out his next pokémon!" The judge declared.

Niko sighed. He knew that in a five-on-five match, he would eventually have to use croconaw. Hesitating, he threw out its pokéball. "Croconaw…go."

The big jaw pokémon looked around the battlefield, as if wondering where it was and why it was there. It then turned to dragonair, who lay on the opposite end of the battlefield nursing its wounds. Croconaw then turned to Niko and scowled.

"I know, I know. You don't want to battle. Do whatever you want. Let's just try and win, alright?"

For once, croconaw listened. It turned to dragonair and beamed at it.

Clair, thoroughly confused, commanded dragonair to use dragonbreath. The attack hit croconaw as it was running towards its opponent, knocking it backwards and into the ground. Dragonair then followed up with a thunderbolt, which also landed. Croconaw cried out as the electricity flowed through it, severely weakening it.

Niko cringed. Croconaw didn't deserve this. "Croconaw, use water gun!"

The big jaw pokémon ignored Niko, instead continuing to pursue its opponent. It again approached dragonair, albeit slowly, but was able to dodge thunderbolts and dragonbreaths along the way. It then got up to its opponent and bit down hard on dragonair's tail. The dragon type cried out in pain.

"Dragonair, finish it off with thunderbolt!" Clair screamed out. Croconaw was then hit with a powerful bolt of electricity, ultimately defeating it.

"Croconaw is unable to battle, dragonair wins! Niko will now send out his next pokémon!" The judge declared.

Now with only two pokémon left, Niko summoned yanma to defeat the dragonair. "Yanma, let's do this! Use sonicboom!"

"Dragonair, use thunderbolt!" Clair commanded. The two attack collided in the middle of the field, creating a sizeable explosion as a result. "Use ice beam!"

"Yanma, double team!" Niko shouted, throwing his arm to the side as a gesture. Yanma multiplied itself, causing the ice beam to miss. "Now, all use sonicboom!"

"Thunderbolt, dragonair!" Clair commanded. The dragon pokémon used thunderbolt, destroying copies one by one, all while taking the sonicbooms. Once it was clear where the real yanma was, Clair commanded a final thunderbolt.

"Quick attack!" Niko shouted. The clear wing pokémon rushed downwards at dragonair, dodging the thunderbolt and slamming headfirst into the dragon type. "Now, sonicboom up close!"

"Yaaaaaan-MA!" Yanma shouted as it conjured a sonicboom up close. The attack resulted in another powerful explosion and sent yanma shooting backwards into the side wall.

Dragonair was still standing, albeit exhausted from the series of sonicbooms. Yanma felt the same—it was flying slowly and struggling to stay high above the ground when it removed itself from the wall it crashed into.

Niko lightly bit his forefinger, as if trying not to panic. Clair still had two pokémon after this—he only had magneton. But yanma could finish this. Niko believed that it could.

"Yanma…let's finish this," he said softly, yet still loud enough for the clear wing pokémon to hear it. "Use sonicboom!"

Yanma straightened itself out and rotated vertically into the air to conjure a sonicboom. It launched the sonic wave quick enough that dragonair and Clair weren't about to retaliate. The attack hit the dragon pokémon in the face, knocking it backwards.

"Dragonair is unable to battle, yanma wins! Clair will send out her next pokémon!" The judge declared.

"Seadra, you're up!"

"We can win this one, yanma, right?" Niko asked, feeling a little better about all of this. Yanma turned to its trainer and nodded. "Excellent. Use double team!"

"Seadra, use dragonbreath!" Clair shouted. The dragon pokémon sprayed the yellow-orange flame across each yanma copy, eventually drawing out the correct one. Yanma flew directly into the air and dove down at seadra.

"Yanma, use quick attack!" Niko shouted. The bug type shot at its opponent with remarkable speed, dive-bombing seadra as it used dragonbreath. The two pokémon rolled towards Clair from the impact of the two attacks. "Now yanma, use sonicboom!"

"Seadra, use surf!"

Seadra conjured a wave out of nowhere and aimed directly for yanma, who was able to create a sonic wave that blew apart the wave and directly hit seadra, knocking it down to the ground again.

"Use quick attack!"

Yanma slammed into seadra once again, albeit getting slower and far more exhausted. Seadra unleashed another dragonbreath, but yanma dodged it and used double team to hide itself. Seadra rotated the dragonbreath to hit each copy, but ultimately yanma came from behind with a quick attack.

At this point Clair seemed to be getting frustrated. In her anger, she commanded seadra use smokescreen, in a similar fashion to Fay. Yanma, now unable to see, was not able to dodge the dragonbreath that hit it directly in the face, knocking it backwards through the cloud of smoke and back to Niko's side, landing directly in front of his feet.

"Yanma is unable to battle, seadra wins! Niko will now send out his final pokémon!" The judge declared.

"Magneton, I choose you!" Niko shouted, sending out his magnet pokémon.

"Figured you'd save your electric type, Niko," Clair said across the field. "But it'll still be difficult to win this. Seadra, use smokescreen!"

Niko breathed in deeply. "Magneton, use thunderwave!"

With breathtaking speed, magneton unleashed a wave of electricity in every direction, ultimately paralyzing seadra. Even though they couldn't see the dragon pokémon, Niko still proceeded with attacking.

"Use sonicboom!"

Magneton shot a sonic wave through the cloud, inadvertently hitting seadra. As it turned out, the water type hadn't moved at all. This gave Niko the opening he desperately wanted.

"Magneton, use thunderbolt!"

The magnet pokémon unleashed a thunderbolt at a still stunned seadra, electrifying it to the point of fainting. Seadra collapsed on its side, defeated.

"Seadra is unable to battle, magneton wins! Clair will now send out her final pokémon!"

"Kingdra, I choose you!" Clair shouted, throwing out a fifth pokéball containing seadra's evolved form. Back in the stands, Fay pulled out his pokédex, obviously curious as to what this pokémon was about:

" _Kingdra, the dragon pokémon. Water and dragon type. It stores energy by sleeping at underwater depths at which no other life forms can survive_."

"Kingdra, use hydro pump!" Clair commanded.

"Magneton, stop it with thunderbolt!" Niko shouted. Kingdra, though far faster, was not able to launch its hydro pump quick enough to directly hit magneton. The electric type dropped a thunderbolt directly in front of it, causing the burst of water to collide and create a rather large explosion in front of it. Niko nearly fell back from the force of the collision, but magneton hardly seemed fazed. "Now, use sonicboom!"

"Hyper beam, kingdra!" Clair ordered. Once again the two attack met, creating another explosion. Although, Clair quickly learned, this was largely a distraction. Knowing that hyper beam took some time to recharge, magneton flew to the side and launched a thunderbolt on kingdra, knocking it to the ground as electricity flowed through its system.

"Magneton, use sonicboom again!" Niko commanded. Magneton did so, but was met with a hydro pump to the face before it could even conjure the attack. It fell backwards as it was now met with a dragonbreath which quickened its path to the ground. Magneton crashed onto the battlefield, watching at kingdra hovered over it.

"This is it, Niko. Kingdra, use hyperbeam!" Clair shouted out.

"Magneton, use thunderbolt!" Niko screamed.

One final time, the two attacks collided, only they were far closer to magneton than either it or Niko would have liked. It certainly knocked kingdra back, although the dragon pokémon hardly looked damaged. After the dust from the resulting explosion cleared, magneton tried getting up, but wasn't able to.

"Magneton is unable to battle, kingdra wins! The victory goes to gym leader Clair!" The judge declared.

Niko returned magneton and, without saying a word, walked back into the stands to meet his friends. While Clair was healing up her team, Fay took her place after patting his friend on the shoulder.

"Sorry, Niko," he said as he walked down the steps of the stands and onto his end of the battlefield.

"Are you alright, Niko?" Brittany asked as her friend sat down next to her. Pichu looked up at Niko with a concerned look. It leapt into Niko's lap and tried nuzzling him, only to send a small electric shock into his stomach.

"Ah!" Niko yelped, gripping onto pichu. The tiny mouse pokémon embraced Niko softly and cautiously, as if afraid to shock him again.

For a moment, Brittany thought she saw a tear run down Niko's face. But she wasn't entirely sure about it.


	43. Episode 43: The Dragon Queen, Part 2

**Episode 43: The Dragon Queen, Part 2**

Fay stepped forward as Clair returned from healing up her team. For a moment the two stood opposite one another, pokéballs in hand, waiting for the other to make the first move.

"Quilava, let's go!" Fay finally said.

"Dratini, you're up!" Clair shouted. "Use dragonbreath!"

"Quilava, dodge and use flame wheel!" Fay commanded. The volcano pokémon rushed forward, its body on fire as she dodged the dragon fire aimed directly at her. Quilava then slammed into dratini, knocking the dragon pokémon backwards. Once it finished rolling through the dirt, Quilava belted out a series of embers at its opponent, further subduing it.

"Dratini, use thunderwave!" Clair commanded.

Quilava attempted to dodge the thunderwave, but got caught up in the move and collapsed onto the ground, stunned. Dratini then buried the volcano pokémon in dragonbreath, prolonging the paralysis.

"Quilava, you have to get up!" Fay cried out. "You're never one to give up, I know that!"

Hearing these words, quilava slowly broke through the paralysis and stared down her opponent. Fay smiled, feeling proud of his fire type.

"You're doing great, quilava. Keep it up! Use flame wheel again!"

"Quillll-AVA!" The volcano pokémon cried out as it rushed again at dratini, slamming into it with incredible force and sending it flying across the field, far past Clair.

"Dratini is unable to battle, quilava wins! Clair will send out her second pokémon!"

"Seadra, you're up!" A rather angry Clair shouted out. "Use surf!"

"Quilava, block it with smokescreen!" Fay commanded. Realizing this wasn't the best move he could come up with, Fay asked quilava to move through the smokescreen and end up on the side of the battlefield, where the surf was least likely to hit. As Fay himself got blasted with the water move, quilava was busy colliding into seadra with flame wheel, knocking the dragon pokémon down to the ground. "Excellent! Use ember again!"

Quilava belted out another series of embers, this time up close. Seadra got hit in the face with the tiny balls of fire before hitting quilava back with dragonbreath. The volcano pokémon fell backwards and onto its back as seadra rose into the air and crashed down onto it with a surf attack.

"Quilava is unable to battle, seadra wins! Fay will send out his second pokémon!" The judge declared.

"Flaaffy, you're up!" Fay commanded, sending out the wool pokémon. "Use thunderwave!"

"Seadra, dodge and use dragonbreath!" Clair shouted. The dragon pokémon leapt through the air, evading the electric wave that was ordinarily bound to stun it. It landed and launched a dragonbreath across the field, hitting flaaffy in the face and nearly knocking it over.

"You can do this, flaaffy! Use thunderpunch!" Fay said encouragingly.

"Seadra, dragonbreath again!" Clair shouted. As seadra repeated its attack, flaaffy's fist began to electrify. It slammed the thunderpunch into the dragonbreath, causing the flames to skirt around the electric pokémon. Flaaffy slowly walked forward, its fist still jutting outwards, blocking the dragonbreath. Clair, panicking slightly, commanded seadra to stop the dragonbreath.

Seadra did so, but flaaffy then rushed forward and slammed its electrified fist into the water type's snout, launching the dragon pokémon several yards backwards.

"Seadra is unable to battle, flaaffy wins! Clair will now send out her third pokémon!"

"Dragonair, you're up!" The gym leader shouted. "Use ice beam!"

"Block it with thunderpunch again!" Fay commanded. Flaaffy did as was told, slamming its fist into the ice beam. Unfortunately, the ice attack was far stronger, and froze the wool pokémon's hand. Fay clenched his teeth. "Flaaffy, use thundershock on yourself!"

Much to Clair's, dragonair's, and flaaffy's surprise, the strategy worked. The relatively weak electric move broke the ice covering its hand. Fay smirked, glad that this ended up working out alright.

"Now, use thunderpunch again!"

"Dragonair, use dragonbreath!"

"Dodge it, flaaffy!"

Flaaffy rushed forward at its opponent, dodging the incoming bursts of dragonbreath. It finally landed an attack on dragonair, but the dragon type hardly seemed phased.

"Dragonair, use slam!" Clair commanded. The snakelike dragon pokémon wrapped its tail around flaaffy, brought it into the air, and slammed the wool pokémon hard into the ground. "And again!"

Dragonair repeated the move a few more times, ultimately defeating the wool pokémon.

"Flaaffy is unable to battle, dragonair wins! Fay will send out his third pokémon!" The judge declared.

"Ursaring, I choose you!" Fay commanded, throwing out his hibernation pokémon. "Use faint attack!"

"Dragonair, dodge and use dragonbreath!"

Fay smirked as he realized Clair made a mistake in trying to avoid faint attack. Ursaring rushed forward and quickly disappeared, only to again reappear behind dragonair, pick it up by the tail, and slam it hard into the ground, just like what happened to flaaffy only moments ago. Dragonair then turned around to ursaring and used thunderbolt, electrifying the normal type.

Ursaring howled in pain as it attempted to break through the thunderbolt and hit dragonair. It prepared a slash attack to land on dragonair's head, but instead its paw met an ice beam. Ursaring broke through the ice attack and, with incredible force, landed the slash across its opponent. Dragonair cried out as it wrapped its tail around ursaring's leg and pulled, knocking the hibernation pokémon off of its feet.

Dragonair then dragged ursaring across the floor of the battlefield by moving its tail back and forth. It stopped and used another thunderbolt and followed up with dragonbreath. Fay balled his hands into fists as he tried to figure out what to do. He settled on using faint attack, knowing that regardless of the position his pokémon was in, they would be able to land this attack.

They succeeded. Ursaring was able to escape the clutches of dragonair and instead slam down on it from above, crushing the dragon pokémon. While the dust was still settling, ursaring grabbed dragonair by the tail and flung it around several times before slamming it onto the ground, defeating it.

"Dragonair is unable to battle, ursaring wins! Clair will now send out her fourth pokémon!" The judge declared.

"Gyarados, I choose you!" The gym leader shouted. She was starting to get angry—she quickly realized that Fay was a far more formidable opponent, and she would need to pull out all of the stops to defeat him. "Use dragon rage!"

"Ursaring, dodge and use faint attack!" Fay commanded. The hibernator pokémon leapt back into action after having a moment's rest, slamming into gyarados from the left side. The atrocious pokémon immediately turned downwards and unleashed purple flames from its maw. Ursaring tried to jump out of the way, but the flames still hit its legs, causing the normal type to fall onto the ground. Gyarados was about to repeat the move when ursaring used faint attack once more, hitting gyarados in the same place, and following up with a slash attack.

Gyarados roared out as it bent over low to bite onto ursaring, who dodged and used faint attack again, hitting gyarados in the face. Clair commanded that gyarados use dragonbreath, and the atrocious pokémon obliged; ursaring was hit in the face by the yellow-orange flames that knocked it backwards.

The hibernator pokémon got one final faint attack in before being blown back by another dragon rage, effectively knocking the normal type out.

"Ursaring is unable to battle, gyarados wins! Fay will send out his fourth pokémon!" The judge stated.

"Seadra, you're up!" Fay shouted out.

"Huh? Seadra?" Clair responded, looking perplexed.

"Yeah, seadra. Knowing the rest of my team, this is the best choice I could make. Seadra, use whirlpool!"

Seadra conjured a whirlpool out of thin air and engulfed gyarados in it. The atrocious pokémon retaliated by unleashing a dragon rage that broke through the swirling water and hit seadra, knocking it off balance and causing the whirlpool to settle down.

"Gyarados, use dragonbreath!"

"Seadra, use twister!" Fay commanded. Seadra dodged the yellow-orange fire as it conjured a twister, again out of thin air, swallowing the sea dragon pokémon and spinning it around.

"Gyarados, use dragon rage!" Clair commanded.

"Smokescreen, seadra!" Fay replied. The dragon pokémon belted out a thick cloud of smoke so that it could skillfully evade the dragon rage while gyarados was still caught up in the twister. Seadra then reappeared on the other side of the field and, as the twister fell apart and gyarados came crashing into the ground, seadra used whirlpool once more, bringing the sea dragon back into the air and throwing it back down onto the ground.

"Gyarados…" Clair said, now a little furious, "Use dragon rage!"

"Seadra, dodge it with smokescreen!"

"No!" Clair shouted out. "Gyarados, engulf the field in dragon rage!"

Gyarados obliged as it spit the purple fire everywhere, slowly peeling away the smoke from the field. By the time the cloud was finished, gyarados found itself back in the air as the twister struck, viciously spinning it around and tossing it across the field, behind Clair and crashing into the wall.

"Gyarados is unable to battle, seadra wins! Clair will send out her final pokémon!" The judge declared.

Clair whipped out her final pokéball with fury. "Kingdra! You're up!"

"Seadra, use twister again!" Fay commanded.

"Not! So! Fast!" Clair shouted back. "Kingdra, use hyperbeam!"

The fully evolved dragon pokémon unleashed an orange energy beam from its long snout, hitting seadra directly in the chest before it could even use twister. The water type stumbled backwards as it rolled back towards its trainer.

Fay crouched down on one knee as seadra struggled to get up next to it.

"Hey buddy, we can do this. If we give up, we might have to do this again, you know? Final gym battle, you and me. Let's win this, alright?" Fay smiled as he looked down at seadra, who was certainly not the kind of pokémon to readily give up like this. It nodded as it got back up and stared down its evolved form. "Great! Seadra use smokescreen!"

"Not _this_ again," Clair scoffed. "Kingdra, use hydro pump!"

By the time kingdra launched its burst of water, seadra was already moving through the smoke cloud. Suddenly, kingdra felt itself lift into the air as the twister struck, spinning it around and launching it into the stands behind it. Fay pumped his fist, knowing that he successfully hit kingdra.

"Great job, seadra! Use twister again!"

"NOT SO FAST!" Clair shouted back. "Kingdra! Use dragonbreath!"

Kingdra belted out yellow-orange fire at its opponent, hitting it before it could be caught up in another twister. Seadra fell backwards, its body limp as it hit the ground.

"Seadra is unable to battle, kingdra wins! Fay will send out his final pokémon!" The judge declared.

Fay smirked. This is the moment he had been waiting for.

"Dragonair! It's your time to shine!" Fay shouted to the heavens as he tossed out his own dragon type.

"Alright then, Fay," Clair said, crossing her arms. "This should be interesting. Kingdra, use dragonbreath!"

"Dragonair, use dragonbreath too!" Fay commanded. The two attacks collided in the middle of the field. The two dragon pokémon exchanged attacks, each meeting the other in midair. Soon the two found themselves exhausted, but neither wished to give up.

"Kingdra, use hyperbeam!" Clair commanded.

"Dragonair, dodge and use dragon rage!" Fay shouted. The dragon type agilely dodged the orange beam of energy as it unleashed its own attack upon its opponent. Kingdra, who was recovering from its own attack, took the dragon rage and winced a little. Now that it, like dragonair, was exhausted, the attacks seemed to be doing more damage than usual.

"Kingdra, don't give in to the pain! Use hydro pump!" Clair commanded. The move hit dragonair square in the face as it tumbled backwards.

"Dragonair, use dragon rage and follow up with slam!"

Dragonair belted out another burst of purple fire and proceeded to slither across the battlefield towards its opponent. After narrowly dodging another hydro pump, dragonair quickly wrapped its tail around kingdra and slammed it into the ground. It did this a few more times before kingdra unleashed a hyperbeam, hitting dragonair square in the face and knocking both of them backwards in the resulting explosion.

Fay and Clair were silent for a moment as they waited for the dust to clear. It was obvious to the both of them that the battle was quickly coming to an end. Once they saw both kingdra and dragonair still standing, they both simultaneously announced attacks in hopes of ending it.

"Dragonbreath!"

"Hydro pump!"

The attacks once again collided midway between the two pokémon, neither giving in for what seemed like forever. Eventually both pokémon halted their attacks and stared one another down. Moments later, kingdra gave in and collapsed.

"Kingdra is unable to battle, dragonair wins! The victory goes to Fay from Pallet Town!" The judge declared.

Clair returned kingdra, beamed at Fay, and turned away.

"Wait, Clair!" Fay shouted, but it was no use. She was gone moments later.

"What was that about?" Brittany asked as the group joined their friend on the battlefield.

"Guess she doesn't like to lose…" Fay responded with a bemused expression.

As he said this, Clair reappeared on the battlefield with something in her balled up fist. She quickly approached Fay and opened her fist up, revealing a small, black badge in the shape of a dragon's head.

"You have earned the Rising badge, Fay. Well done. I don't like losing, but I can tell that you're a particularly strong trainer. You've earned it," she turned to Niko. "And you. I will be in the gym tomorrow around midday if you wish to have a rematch."

With that, Clair walked out of the front entrance of the gym. Before the group could see where she was heading, the Blackthorn City gym leader had disappeared.

"What an odd woman…" JJ remarked as they stood at the top of the hill overlooking the city. It was around midday when they had left the gym.

"Yeah, you've got that right," Brittany replied. "Say, let's head to the pokémon center now, right?" The other three nodded, and the group proceeded to head down the hill.


	44. Episode 44: A boy and his crocodile

**Episode 44: A boy and his crocodile**

After leaving the Blackthorn gym, the group walked back to the pokémon center to heal up and have a meal. The whole time Niko sat in silence. It wasn't a depressed silence, but more of a mixture between thoughtful and melancholic. He also felt numb, similar to his loss to Jasmine back in Olivine. The rest of this friends worried about him, but when he finally spoke up it was to reassure them.

"Guys, don't worry. I'm fine. I swear."

"You don't look like it, Niko," JJ responded, his brow raised.

"Trust me, JJ, I'm fine. I've lost gym matches before. This is not that big of a deal."

"Well, if that's the case, what are you going to do about it?" Fay asked.

"Just do some more training. Think about what went wrong and how I can bounce back. I think I'll go walk around for a bit today, if that's alright."

Niko stood up and, waving to his friends, grabbed his pokéballs and walked out of the center.

"He's not okay, is he?" JJ asked, pointing to the door.

"He very well might be. Niko is more accustomed to this than any of us are. I think he just needs some time alone," Fay replied, turning back from looking at the door and towards JJ and Brittany. "He'll be fine."

"I worry about him, you know?" Brittany said. "I don't think I've ever had to worry about you or JJ, Fay, but Niko I always have to wonder what's going on in his head."

"Niko has his moments, that's for sure. To be honest, I don't think he is emotionally strong, but he will get there in time. He has an inferiority complex, I think, and that's what hinders him the most. Once he gets over that, I think he will become a very strong trainer," Fay explained before picking up a fry.

"That sounds pretty accurate, actually. I just hope he finds a way to overcome this problem before it hurts him more," Brittany commented before returning to her lunch.

"Like I said, everything will be just fine," Fay said, reassuring his brunette friend. Brittany smiled warmly.

"Thanks, Fay."

Niko sat down behind the Blackthorn gym, at the edge of the lake with four of his five pokémon. Croconaw had wandered off somewhere, but he wasn't quite sure where. The other four seemed sad, more so than usual. It was only magneton that wasn't completely distraught by their loss, except for its performance against kingdra.

"Hey, guys," Niko said as he gazed out on the lake that sat in front of the mountains ahead. "I don't want you to think that you failed. Clair is the toughest trainer we have ever fought, maybe tougher than Elliot. But despite that, you showed some of the best battling that I have ever seen. I want you to know that."

Yanma, noctowl, delibird, and magneton all turned to him. Delibird had a tear in its eye and it rubbed it away quickly.

"I've told some of you this before, certainly magneton, but I've had a problem with losing big matches like this one before, like back in the Indigo League, when I lost to Fay. I felt like I let my team down, that I wasn't the best trainer that I could be. It might not seem like much, but it mattered to me. I felt like giving up then and there, and I'd just find something else to do, but I was coaxed into coming to Johto.

"I'm glad that I did, because I got to meet you all. Magneton, I couldn't be more proud of you. When I first met you, you were a shy little magnemite that had no battling experience at all. It took you a while to get going, but once you did, you became one of my strongest pokémon.

"Noctowl, you are without a doubt my most prideful pokémon. I've haven't seen anyone have the kind of determination that you do. I'm proud to have trained you. You've made me a more determined trainer.

"Yanma: I hate bugs, you know that. I didn't want to catch you, but when I saw that you knew sonicboom, I figured that you could help me teach it to magneton. I don't regret catching you now, since you've been so helpful on this journey, and a wonderful friend.

"And lastly, delibird: we've only just gotten to know each other, but I love your spirit and energy that you take with you everywhere you go. I know you want to get stronger one day, and I want to help you do that."

Niko smiled as he turned from his pokémon to the lake. The sun was close to setting by now. "Anyways, I don't know what else I can do for you guys before tomorrow. I think we'll just have another go at it. I know we can beat Clair, since we got close last time. We'll just need to keep pushing on, right?"

His pokémon nodded. Niko then returned each one in turn and was ready to get back up when he saw croconaw standing there in front of him.

"Oh, sorry croconaw. I guess I forgot you had left…"

Croconaw nodded, but instead of ignoring Niko, it walked over and sat down next to him.

"How are you feeling?" Niko asked, turning to the big jaw pokémon. Croconaw didn't look back; it was staring intently at the lake now colored by the sunset. It finally shook its head. "You don't feel good, eh?" Croconaw nodded. "Is it because we lost?" Croconaw nodded again. "I get that. You're like me—you don't like to lose. Heh."

Niko sat there for a moment, contemplating what he wanted to say next.

"Listen, croconaw," He began, "I get that you've been mad at me for a while now, and for a good reason, too. I pushed you too hard; I expected too much from you. That was _my_ mistake. You see, I sometimes feel like I must keep trying to be the best at everything. I'm an ambitious person, and it gets the best of me. I wanted you to learn whirlpool to keep up with Fay. That's why I pushed you so much.

"Now, I don't to keep you around if you clearly don't want to be, you know? Since the Whirl Island's Tournament, you have shown no interest in training or wanting to get better. And I get that now. If that's how you want to live your life, if battling isn't your thing, that's okay! I can't push you any more than you want to be pushed. So, I've got a choice on the table for you. I'm giving you the opportunity to walk out now if you want."

Croconaw turned to Niko, dumbfounded. Niko didn't notice this, as he was busy watching the water ripple from the light gusts of winds gliding by.

"I obviously don't want you to go…" Niko said, sniffling a little, "But I don't want to force you to stay, so I'm leaving it up to you."

The two sat there for a moment before croconaw scooted closer to its trainer and rested its large head on his shoulder. It had made its choice.

"I see. Well then, let's win tomorrow. You and me, alright?" Niko said, looking down at the big jaw pokémon and smiling warmly. Croconaw did the same. All seemed right in the world again.

Niko and his friends approached the Blackthorn gym the following day around noon. As expected, Clair was standing at her end of the field, as if anticipating Niko's return.

"You're back. That's good, are you ready for your rematch?" She asked as Niko took his place at the opposing end of the battlefield.

"Yeah, I'm ready."

"Very well then. It will be a five-on-five match, just like yesterday. The rules stay the same. You may begin when you're ready."

Niko smirked slightly. "Alright then, noctowl, I choose you!"

"Dratini, you're up!" Clair commanded as she summoned the dragon pokémon. "Use dragonbreath!"

"Noctowl, dodge and use steel wing!" Niko commanded. The owl pokémon dodged the burst of fire aimed at it and collided with its opponent, knocking it back several feet as it swooped back into the air for another attack. "Now, use take down!"

Noctowl then dive-bombed dratini, who unleashed a dragonbreath directly under it. The flying type braved the fire, flying directly into it and crashing into dratini. The dragon pokémon quickly fainted.

"Dratini is unable to battle, noctowl wins! Clair will now send out her second pokémon!" The judge declared.

"Dragonair, you're up!" Clair shouted. "Use thunderbolt!"

"Noctowl, dodge and use hypnosis!" Niko commanded. The owl pokémon, feeling fired up from its victory against dratini, quickly evaded the bolt of electricity and got close enough to its opponent to put it to sleep. Dragonair collapsed onto the ground while noctowl beat on it with steel wing and take down, refusing to give up until the dragon pokémon fainted.

However, it eventually woke back up and launched a thunderbolt at noctowl. The attack was a direct hit, causing noctowl to crash into the ground.

"Noctowl! Get up!" Niko shouted out. The owl pokémon struggled to stand back up, albeit slowly. "Great job, noctowl! Keep it up! Use steel wing!"

Noctowl nodded and got back into the air. It shot forward at its opponent like a rocket. As it collided with dragonair, the dragon type unleashed a dragonbreath that hit just as noctowl slammed into it with its wings. Noctowl crashed into the ground behind dragonair, unable to move.

"Noctowl is unable to battle, dragonair wins! Niko will send out his second pokémon!" The judge declared.

"Return, noctowl. I'm proud of you. Croconaw, you're up!"

"Croconaw?" Brittany asked as she heard Niko's next command. "Isn't croconaw not listening to him?"

"Last time we checked, it wasn't. But maybe something changed. After all, Niko looks more confident now," Fay commented as he continued to watch the battle unfold.

Niko breathed deeply as he contemplated how to go about this. It had been some time since he used his water type that he felt he almost forgot croconaw's moveset.

"Croconaw, use whirlpool!" Niko shouted. Without hesitation, the big jaw pokémon conjured a whirlpool from thin air as it surrounded dragonair in it. The dragon pokémon got caught in the rapidly spinning water, confusing it and sending it flying into the stands opposite the rest of the group. "Great, now follow up with bite!" Niko shouted. Croconaw rushed forward with a speed not even Niko had anticipated, and bit down hard onto dragonair's tail. The dragon type yelped out in pain, retaliating with a thunderbolt. "Dodge, croconaw!"

The big jaw pokémon obeyed, rolling out of the way as the bolt of electricity crashed into the ground. Croconaw then, without Niko's command, slammed its fist into dragonair's face. With a closer look, Niko noticed that croconaw's fist was frozen.

It had learned ice punch.

"Croconaw! Wow!" Niko shouted in excitement. "Great job!"

"Pfft," Clair scoffed. "Pure luck. Anyways, dragonair, use thunderbolt again!"

As dragonair was about to create another thunderbolt, croconaw slammed its frozen fist into dragonair's chin, upper cutting it. Dragonair then fell backwards, the thunderbolt never landing, and hit the wall of the stands, defeated.

"Dragonair is unable to battle, croconaw wins! Clair will send out her third pokémon!" The judge declared.

"Gyarados, you're up!" Clair commanded.

Niko returned croconaw. "I'll need you for later, buddy. Yanma, I choose you!" Niko shouted out.

"Gyarados, use dragon rage!"

"Yanma, double team!" Niko commanded. The clear wing pokémon multiplied itself, successfully dodging the dragon rage. "Now, use sonicboom!"

All the yanma copies unleashed waves of sonic energy at gyarados, who blocked some of them with another dragon rage. Niko then commanded yanma to use quick attack on gyarados, and the atrocious pokémon could pick off some of the other copies with dragonbreath. After this first round of attacks, both pokémon seemed to have expended more energy than usual.

"Yanma, let's not give in now! Use sonicboom again!"

"Gyarados, use dragonbreath!" Clair commanded.

The two attacks hit in the middle of the field and create an explosion that kicked a cloud of dust into the air. Yanma then flew through it and slammed into gyarados with a quick attack, nearly knocking the sea dragon backwards. Gyarados then responded by biting onto yanma's tail and throwing it down onto the ground, using dragon rage to follow up.

Once the dust settled, Niko could see what had happened to his bug type. "Yanma! Don't give up! You can do this!"

Yanma looked up at Niko and smiled. It then slowly got back into the air and created some distance between it and gyarados. It then unleashed a series of sonicbooms at gyarados, who was unable to dodge them due to its sheer size. Yanma then rushed in for a final quick attack, only to be swallowed up in a final dragon rage from gyarados. The two pokémon collided, and both collapsed onto the ground.

"Yanma and gyarados are both unable to battle! Niko and Clair will now send out there next pokémon!" The judge declared.

"Seadra, I choose you!" Clair shouted, slightly furious now. Niko was doing better. Much better.

"Magneton, you're up!" Niko commanded. "Use thunderwave!"

"Seadra, use smokescreen!" The dragon pokémon belted out a cloud of smoke as it disappeared, successfully dodging the thunderwave and reappearing at magneton's side. "Now, use dragonbreath!"

The yellow-orange fire hit magneton in the side, knocking it over and onto the ground. As seadra leapt forward to follow up, magneton unleashed a sonicboom that sent it hurtling backwards into the empty stands.

"Great job, magneton! Now use thunderbolt!" Niko shouted. He was far more fired up now. The magnet pokémon unleashed a bolt of electricity at its opponent, who dodged and rushed forward to use dragonbreath. Clair fully realized the dangers of using water moves against electric types at this point.

Magneton shot another thunderbolt with managed to hit seadra, but barely: the dragon pokémon was hit in the fin by the electricity and, while injured, still managed to land a dragonbreath on its opponent.

"Magneton, you can do this! Let's finish it off with thunderbolt!" Niko shouted, feeling the shared energy between it and magneton. The attack hit seadra directly. This time, though, seadra fell to the ground, defeated.

"Seadra is unable to battle, magneton wins! Clair will now send out her final pokémon!" The judge declared.

"Alright then, Niko. I'll admit you've gotten stronger since our last match. I don't quite understand why, or how, but I'll admit I'm surprised. However, you will soon witness the real power of the dragon type. Kingdra, I choose you! Use hyperbeam!"

"Magneton, thunderbolt!" Niko shouted. As they did in their previous battle, the two attacks collided with incredible force, knocking both backwards several feet. Niko covered his eyes to shield himself from the wave of dust particles racing towards him. "Magneton, thunderbolt while its recovering!"

The magnet pokémon buzzed loudly as it conjured another bolt of lightning and struck kingdra with it. The dragon pokémon retaliated with a hydro pump. Clair, figuring that she might still be able to win this, got riskier with her moves. Magneton used sonicboom to push the water back towards kingdra, hardly doing any damage.

"Kingdra, dragonbreath!"

"Magneton, dodge and use thunderwave!" Niko commanded. The electric type agilely dodged the yellow and orange fire and quickly summoned a wave of electricity in every direction, eventually hitting kingdra and momentarily stunning it. "Now, follow up with thunderbolt!"

Magneton buzzed once again, summoning a bolt of lightning and striking kingdra once again. Clair, realizing that being risky did have its drawbacks, commanded a series of dragonbreaths to try and subdue magneton. The magnet pokémon dodged nearly every one, eventually getting hit and falling backwards into the ground.

As it was getting up, kingdra unleashed a hyperbeam to keep magneton down. Only this time, while the dragon pokémon was still recovering, magneton did not get back up.

"Magneton is unable to battle, kingdra wins! Niko will now send out his next pokémon!" The judge stated.

"Delibird, you're up!" Niko commanded. He wanted the delivery pokémon to have a go at kingdra, understanding that it might not necessarily succeed. He knew that noctowl, while still a hoothoot, didn't necessarily appreciate not being used against Jasmine in their rematch, and so hoped to rectify that with delibird this time. "Use present!"

"Deli! Deli!" Delibird shouted happily as it ran towards kingdra, tossing presents forward that it believed to be explosive, and tossed back the ones that were healing gifts. Kingdra and Clair, shocked at the speed and agility of the little bird, attempted to use dragonbreath, but delibird kept dodging them and throwing presents around.

"Kingdra! Destroy it!" Clair demanded. Kingdra aimed carefully at the delibird, who was happily tossing presents in its direction, and unleashed a hyper beam at the ice type. Delibird was able to get out, but the sack got hit by the hyper beam, shredding it.

"Deli?" Delibird said as it looked down at the torn sack falling to the ground. "Deli…" It turned to kingdra now, and conjured a face of anger that Niko had never seen before. "DELI!"

Delibird dove down towards kingdra and swiped furiously at its face, punching and kicking the dragon pokémon as it was trying to recover. Kingdra flailed about, trying to dodge the onslaught of attacks, but failed to. Eventually, it used a single hyperbeam once it gathered up the energy, and sent delibird flying into the wall behind Niko, directly left of the front door.

"Delibird is unable to battle, kingdra wins! Niko will now send out his final pokémon!"

"Croconaw! I choose you!" Niko shouted. He felt the energy flowing through him. A fire had been lit underneath Niko and croconaw, and for a moment they seemed to understand each other. Niko took another deep breath. It was now or never for them.

Almost immediately after being summoned, croconaw began to glow a bright white color. It grew over twice its original size, its arms began to grow, and the spikes of its head and back also doubled and even tripled in size. The new pokémon broke the white glow and stood there, in front of its opponent. Niko pulled out his pokédex:

" _Feraligatr, the big jaw pokémon. Water type. Although it has a massive body, its powerful hind legs enable it to move quickly, even on ground._ "

"It's just you and me, buddy," Niko said plainly. "Let's do this. Feraligatr, use ice punch!"

"Kingdra, hyperbeam!" Clair shouted out. The orange beam of energy collided with feraligatr's fist, quickly overpowering the big jaw pokémon. Feraligatr collapsed onto one knee; the hyperbeam certainly did enough damage to it.

"Feraligatr, don't give up!" Niko shouted. "I believe you can do this! Feraligatr, I am proud of you!"

Feraligatr roared out as it got back up and rushed at kingdra while the latter was recovering. Its fist frozen, it punched kingdra in the side of the face, sending it crashing into the ground. It then conjured a whirlpool and lifted it up around kingdra, spinning the dragon pokémon around in circles, eventually knocking it out in Niko's direction. The dragon pokémon collapsed onto the ground as feraligatr rushed to use ice punch once more, this time on Niko's command.

"Kingdra use hyperbeam!" Clair shouted out, realizing that since kingdra was exhausted, the battle was quickly coming to an end. If the hyperbeam was a direct hit, then it could put feraligatr down long enough for kingdra to recover.

Fortunately for Clair, the hyperbeam was a direct hit, knocking feraligatr backwards onto its back. Both pokémon struggled to get up, exhausted from the series of attacks sent right at them. Kingdra was panting; recovering from successive hyperbeams took a lot out of it. Feraligatr, on the other hand, was exhausted from the two successful hyperbeams launched right at it.

But the big jaw pokémon didn't give up. Niko wouldn't, and neither would it.

"Feraligatr, use ice punch!" Niko screamed out.

"Kingdra, dragonbreath!" Clair commanded fiercely.

As kingdra belted out the familiar yellow-orange flame, feraligatr rushed forward, its fist frozen. The fist collided with the fire, and feraligatr slowly pushed forward against the attack. As it got within range of kingdra, it froze its other fist and uppercut the dragon pokémon, sending it several feet into the air. Kingdra came crashing down, defeated.

"Kingdra is unable to battle, feraligatr wins! The victory goes to Niko from Pallet Town!" The judge declared.

Niko smiled as he approached feraligatr. "I'm very proud of you, I want you to know that," He said as he embraced the big jaw pokémon. "And I'm glad to have you back to normal."

Feraligatr growled softly, pleased by the confidence its trainer had in it. Fay, Brittany, and JJ joined him in the middle of the field to also hug him and shake his hand.

"Wow, Niko! I don't know if I've ever seen you so fired up in a battle before," JJ commented.

"Yeah, you really seemed caught up in it for a moment. It was good to see," Fay said, slapping his friend on the back.

"You did amazing, Niko. We're all proud of you, too," Brittany said.

Clair then approached the group. "Niko, you performed excellently today. As proof that you have defeated me, I award you with the Rising badge. Congrats to you and to your team of pokémon. I think you and Fay will go far. No, I don't think it. I know it."

"Thanks, Clair. Coming from you, I appreciate it," Niko said, shaking the gym leader's hand. "Now, I do have one question."

"What's that?" Clair, slightly caught off guard, asked.

"What's that cave across the lake from here?"

"Oh, that," Clair said, as it deep in thought. "That's the Dragon's Den. I go there occasionally to train. It's there that I became a trainer, alongside my cousin, Lance."

"Lance trained here?!" Fay asked in astonishment.

"Indeed. We got our first pokémon there. We trained together every day there. Why do you ask?"

"I was just curious," Niko said, smiling.

"I see. Well, since you've both beaten me, I have an offer for you. I will allow you both to visit the Dragon's Den. You may bring your friends if you wish. Fay, I think you in particular will appreciate it, since it's obvious that you have an affinity for the dragon type."

"That's mostly true. I also have a charizard and gyarados," Fay said, nodding slowly.

"Indeed. Well, I'm going there now. If you wish to join me, that is where you will find me."

"Sounds great! I'd like to heal up my pokémon first, though, so maybe I can meet you all there?"

"Sure," Clair replied simply. "See you there."

Niko then ran out of the gym and back to the pokémon center. It had been a long time since he felt as happy as he did in that moment.


	45. Episode 45: Dancing with dragons

**Episode 45: Dancing with dragons**

Clair led Fay, Brittany, and JJ into the Dragon's Den behind the Blackthorn gym. As they entered the cave, they had to take a long set of staircases that led them into the main chamber of the cavern.

The chamber was rather large, covered almost entirely by a lake. At the other end of the lake was a small building resting along the back wall. Clair summoned her kingdra and gyarados.

"Here, you three ride on gyarados. I'll meet you there on kingdra," the gym leader said, motioning the group to get onto the atrocious pokémon, a feeling not unfamiliar to the three of them.

They made their way across the lake slowly. As they did so, they gazed around at the lake and cavern walls surrounding them. Along the walls and ceiling there were small gems that seemed to glow in the dark, thus providing light for anyone wishing to cross the lake. In the lake itself dratini and magikarp swam around, each one looking at the group in awe, as if they had never seen a human before.

They eventually made it to the other end of the lake and leapt off gyarados as Clair returned it and kingdra to their pokéballs. She then motioned them into the building.

"This is the dragon shrine. In it you will find the Dragon Master. It is he who trained Lance and I in the art of training dragon pokémon," Clair explained. "Fay, I brought you here because I realize you have an interest in training dragon types. Is that correct?"

Fay nodded, showing no lack of certainty. "Guess so. I've always been interested in dragons, and I guess that manifested itself in the types of pokémon that I chose, even if it was subconsciously."

"Right," Clair said plainly. "Anyways, I would like you to meet the Dragon Master. I have a feeling that he will help you."

She opened the shrine door and led them in. The shrine was rather dark inside, except for four lights: one on each side roughly ten feet from the door, and two in the very back. The lights on the sides revealed two old men sitting cross-legged on the wooden floor; the lights in the back illuminated the face of whom Fay assumed was the Dragon Master.

"Master," Clair said, bowing as she entered. Fay, Brittany, and JJ did the same. "I have brought you a trainer that you will find interest in."

"Oh, hello, Clair," the Dragon Master said softly, yet authoritatively. "I see that you brought me three trainers. Are they all interesting?"

"Uh…well, not really," Clair stammered. "This young man, Fay, is the one I am speaking of."

"Very well," The Dragon Master said, beckoning the four over to him.

"Master, Fay is from Pallet Town in Kanto. He recently beat me in a— "

"He has a voice, Clair. Let him use it," the Dragon Master said, motioning for Clair to stop talking with one hand and motioned for Fay to talk with the other. "Tell me about yourself, Fay."

"Hello, Dragon Master," Fay began, "like Clair mentioned, I am from Pallet Town, and have competed in gym challenges in Kanto and now in Johto, having recently beaten Clair for my eighth badge. I have an interest in training dragon pokémon, and was wondering if you had any advice for me."

The Dragon Master sat there for a moment, beaming at Fay. He breathed heavily, and began to speak. "I have a couple of questions for you, Fay. Do you have the time to answer them?"

"Yes, sir," Fay said plainly.

"Thank you. Now, tell me, Fay: what are pokémon to you?"

"They are my friends, my allies. My pokémon mean a lot to me. I wouldn't have gotten anywhere in the past couple of years without them."

"I see. Now, what helps you to win battles?"

"I train with my pokémon nearly every day. We come up with strategies to take on gyms and other trainers, particularly when we don't have a natural advantage."

"I see. Next, what kind of trainer do you wish to battle?"

"I have no problem battling any type of trainer. They say that a trainer learns something new in every gym battle. Well, I also believe that can extend to every battle in general."

"Hmm. I see. Now, what is most important for raising pokémon?"

"Well, knowing what you're doing is a good start. Understanding not just the advantages and disadvantages of different types, but also knowing the unique characteristics of your individual pokémon. What makes them tick? What do they enjoy doing? Why do they battle or not battle? Every trainer should be able to answer those questions about their pokémon."

"Alright, I see. Now, last question: Strong pokémon. Weak pokémon. Which is more important?"

"They both are. The concept of strength is relative here. A pokémon can be strong if it is trained well, but that is not restricted to only strong pokémon. Even pokémon that are considered as 'weak' are strong in their own way, depending on the situation and the traits of that pokémon. Likewise, a strong pokémon can be weak, again depending on the situation. They are both useful, but it largely depends on the pokémon."

"Hmm…I see," the Dragon Master finally said. "Now, do you know why I asked you these questions?"

"No, sir, I do not," Fay answered honestly.

"Well, I ask this of every trainer that seeks my advice and guidance. You see, dragon pokémon are a unique type of pokémon. They are incredibly difficult not just to capture, but to train and to evolve. It is simply their nature. They can often be uncontrollable, as well, even in the best of situations. Tell me, have you ever visited the Lake of Rage?"

"Yes, sir," Fay replied.

"Well, while gyarados are not dragon types technically, they have the same characteristics of one. It is difficult to handle them, which is generally why it is easier to train them from a magikarp and evolve them naturally. However, the gyarados at the Lake of Rage are, in many cases, force-evolved gyarados. They are _not_ controllable, and I would like to believe they are a perfect example of what I am trying to impress upon you.

"I asked you those questions to get a sense of the kind of trainer that you are. You have a sense of how to train pokémon, and train them well. Additionally, you have defeated a dragon trainer. As you might have noticed, there aren't many of them. Clair and Lance are well known _because_ they are dragon trainers, not just because they are the Blackthorn gym leader and the Champion of the Silver Conference. They gave similar answers to these questions.

"It is obvious to me that you care about your pokémon, and care about trying to understand them. For any trainer, that is a wonderful ability. For dragon trainers, it is absolutely essential. You will never be a dragon trainer if you are unable to show any care for your pokémon or understand their unique characteristics."

The Dragon Master reached for something in his robes. He pulled out a small scale, and extended his hand to Fay.

"This here is a dragon scale. It is a rare scale, and it often used to evolve seadra. Clair has told me that you possess a seadra, is that correct?" Fay nodded. "Very well, I would recommend that you evolve it, and unleash the true power of your dragon pokémon."

Fay held the dragon scale in its hands and looked back at the Dragon Master. "Thank you, sir. I truly appreciate this."

"It is no problem. I am happy to be of service to anyone that is willing to listen."

Fay turned to Clair, Brittany, and JJ. All of them nodded, as if asking him to evolve seadra at that moment.

"Fay, it might be best to do this outside, actually," Clair suggested, motioning him to the door of the shrine.

They walked out to the edge of the water. Fay tossed out seadra's pokéball. The dragon pokémon looked up eagerly at its trainer. Fay then exposed it to the dragon scale, placing it against the water type. Suddenly, seadra began to glow a bright white color, enveloping the Dragon's Den in the bright light of evolution. Seadra grew roughly twice its original size. Its wings remained largely the same size, but the length of its snout doubled, and its curled tail also doubled in size. As the light faded, a kingdra sat in its place.

"Hello, kingdra," Fay said warmly. However, the kingdra in return sprayed water in his face and turned around, unleashing what looked to be dragonbreath. "What the…?"

"Fay, it seems that it's having problems listening to you," Clair mentioned, "that's common among kingdra. You will need to tame it again."

"What…" Fay repeated, looking from Clair back to his kingdra. "Alright, then. Kingdra! Listen to me!"

Kingdra turned to Fay. It had moved further across the lake, but was certainly still within eyesight. It then belted out a dragonbreath, which Fay himself dodged.

"Alright then, you want to fight? Let's fight. Flaaffy, I choose you!" Fay commanded, summoning a rather confused flaaffy. "Don't worry buddy. I just evolved seadra into kingdra and we have to learn to control it, since it's kind of gone rogue. Understand?"

Flaaffy nodded slowly, trying to process the situation.

"Fay, be careful," Clair cautioned. "You don't want to upset the other pokémon in the lake.

The black-haired trainer nodded. "No worries. Flaaffy, focus your thundershock at kingdra, alright?"

The wool pokémon nodded, charging up electricity as it aimed directly at the dragon pokémon. The attack ultimately missed due to kingdra's agility, and the latter retaliated with a dragonbreath, which hit flaaffy in the face and knocked it over.

"Use thunderwave!" Fay shouted out. Flaaffy obeyed, using the stunning move to successfully stop kingdra in its tracks. "Now, follow up with a thundershock!"

Flaaffy landed another successful electric attack on its teammate-turned-opponent. Kingdra, still stunned, sat there beaming at Fay. Once it was released, it rushed towards Fay and flaaffy, crashing into the edge of the wooden platform they were standing on. Flaaffy no longer had to be cautious of the wild pokémon, and so planted a thunderpunch across kingdra's face. It repeated the attack a few times.

"Fay!? What's going on?" Fay looked up to see Niko riding on feraligatr across the lake. "Is everything okay?"

"Niko!" Fay replied. "Yeah, everything is fine! I evolve seadra and it's now kinda gone rogue on me."

"Need help?" Niko asked as they approached. Kingdra, seeing feraligatr, rushed towards the two in the middle of the lake. "Oh, shit!" Niko shouted. "Feraligatr, use whirlpool!"

Feraligatr roared as it conjured a whirlpool right in front of it. Kingdra quickly fell into the trap, getting caught in the whirlpool and spinning around viciously beneath the water.

"Guess I'm helping?" Niko asked as he and the big jaw pokémon swam along the side of the whirlpool to the shrine entrance.

"Guess so…" Fay commented as the whirlpool disappeared, leaving kingdra sitting there in the water, damaged and angry.

"Hey, kingdra, listen!" Fay shouted. "I'm your trainer, whether you like it or not! You might not realize this, but we're friends. We have been ever since we met back in Olivine City. You have been an incredible friend to me, these guys, and the rest of my pokémon. I couldn't have gotten this far in my journey without you. So, please, come back here. Let's finish our journey together, okay?"

Kingdra sat there in the water, beaming at Fay, as if deep in thought. Slowly but surely, it began to swim back to the wooden platform. Flaaffy ran up and hugged its neck as kingdra smiled.

"Welcome back, buddy," Fay said, crouching on one knee and petting kingdra's head.

Clair walked over to Fay and patted him on the shoulder. "You did good, kid. Keep it up."

"Thanks, Clair. I'm not sure what exactly I did, but I did what I thought was right at the time. It seemed to have worked."

"Yeah, it absolutely did. Kingdra has a lot to learn, as do you, but you will learn together. That's the true strength of the bond between trainer and pokémon."

"Thanks again, Clair," Fay said as he stood up and returned flaaffy and kingdra. "I do appreciate the help. I see what you and the Dragon Master mean about how hard it is to train dragons. I've had difficulties with them before, but that was assuming I had their trust. Now I see that that trust is not an assumed thing."

"Of course, Fay. Now, let's get you four back to the surface. I'm sure you have places to be," Clair said as she summoned her kingdra and gyarados again. Niko rode on feraligatr as the group made their way out of the Dragon's Den and back to the Blackthorn gym. When they were about to part ways, Clair turned to Niko and Fay. "You can both qualify for the Silver Conference now. The tournament is in two weeks at Mount Silver. It is a few day's walk from New Bark Town to the northeast. Ordinarily I would say you could just cross this mountain range, but it is far too treacherous. I recommend the safer option.

"Thanks, Clair," Niko said, "we'll take that advice."

The group then walked down the hill and back to the pokémon center for dinner. The following day, they would begin their journey back to New Bark Town, and then to the Silver Conference.


	46. Episode 46: Dreams and nightmares!

**Episode 46: Dreams and nightmares!**

The group decided to go eat at a local Blackthorn restaurant as a way of celebrating Niko and Fay's victory against Clair. Both now had eight badges, and could qualify to compete in the Silver Conference, which they had just recently learned would be held at Mt. Silver in two weeks' time. Both had a feeling that they needed to do more training before getting there, but were confident in their abilities all the same.

Brittany and JJ were in particular more impressed with Niko's sudden confidence. In his rematch against Clair, he seemed far more collected than he was in any of his previous gym matches in Johto, with the possible exception of Falkner. Even now, as he was likely thinking ahead to the Silver Conference, there was an aura about him that exuded an unusual amount of self-esteem, relatively speaking. After knowing how he felt in the aftermath of some of his bigger losses, this was an improvement.

Fay, on the other hand, was indeed confident. Brittany and JJ had hardly had any reason to worry about him, but they also saw that he felt a new sense of purpose in the aftermath of seadra's evolution.

The group made casual small talk as they ate at a local sushi restaurant—the only one, actually—eventually leaving and retiring to the pokémon center for a well-earned night's sleep.

The following morning, they went to the store to grab any materials they needed and set off in a southbound direction towards New Bark Town. They would have to take Routes 45 and 46 to get there and, much like Mt. Mortar and Route 42, it was mountainous, which the group did not appreciate much.

During their week long trek that would take them to their next destination, Niko and Fay continued with their training sessions. Now that they had no specific type of pokémon to train against, the two trainers focused more on the individual skills of each of their pokémon.

Fay had quilava trying to learn flamethrower, flaaffy to improve its flash and thunderpunch abilities, sudowoodo with rock slide, ursaring with mega punch, and kingdra with its dragonbreath. Overall, he was seeing success, with the exception of quilava, who had difficulty maintaining a steady stream of fire, and kingdra, who had yet to control its dragonbreath.

Niko wanted to help feraligatr work on its ice punch, and to try and teach it hydro pump, the latter of which would be more difficult, but Niko felt up to the challenge. As for yanma, Niko wanted it to learn wing attack. Here he enlisted the occasional help of noctowl, as steel wing and wing attack weren't completely different from one another. Magneton would work on a new move that JJ saw in a magazine, called zap cannon. This move, due to its low accuracy, is one of the hardest electric type moves to learn, but again, Niko felt up to the challenge. Delibird, having only one move, was urged by Niko to consider learning other moves, too, such as protect. Lastly, Niko spent most of his time helping Noctowl.

The owl pokémon was trying to learn a move to complement its hypnosis: dream eater. Niko had little idea of how to teach this move, as he hardly understood it himself.

"So, err, noctowl…" Niko began as they stood next to one another on their first day on Route 45. "I'm not sure how dream eater works, but I want to teach it to you. You want to learn it, right?"

Noctowl nodded slowly, and with more certainty than Niko had expected.

"Hey, Niko!" JJ yelled out to his friend as he was washing umbreon. "Here's an idea—so dream eater only works when a pokémon is asleep, right?"

"Right…" Niko replied, his brow raised.

"Yeah, and noctowl has psychic abilities, right?"

Niko nodded a second time, still unsure of what his friend was getting at.

"Exactly! So, when it puts something to sleep, all it has to do is read the mind of its opponent, and haunt their memories. A dream is kind of like distorted memories, right? They're images that seem as real to us as memories do, right?"

Niko scratched his chin for a moment, understanding what his friend was trying to explain to him. "Yeah, I guess that makes sense. We could try that, right noctowl?"

Noctowl nodded. It seemed to understand what JJ was saying, and at least was willing to try it.

"Here, Niko, I'll battle you with beedrill, we can try it out. Beedrill? You want to help noctowl learn dream eater?"

The poison bee pokémon nodded as it floated over to its trainer, Niko, and noctowl.

"Thanks, JJ, beedrill. Noctowl, use hypnosis!"

Noctowl's eyes began to glow as it quickly and successfully put its opponent to sleep.

"Alright, now let's try and see its dreams. Can you?" Niko asked. Noctowl shook its head. "Keep trying! You can do this; I believe in you…"

Noctowl closed its eyes and stood still for a moment. It suddenly shook and quickly opened its eyes back up, turning to Niko with horror.

"What'd you see?"

Noctowl just turned and looked at the ground, still shaking. It clearly didn't see anything good. JJ wore a similar look of concern as beedrill woke back up.

"Beedrill, are you okay?" JJ asked. "Did you have a bad dream?" Oddly enough, the poison bee shook its head. "Was it a good dream?" Beedrill nodded.

"Okay…then either beedrill is either insane or noctowl didn't actually see into its mind. Noctowl, did you read beedrill's mind?"

Noctowl then shook its head.

"What? Noctowl, you have to try and read _beedrill's_ mind! That's the point! Let's try this again, are you up for it?"

The owl pokémon nodded, albeit hesitantly, and continued to attempt dream eater. Each time it was shaking for some reason, and evidently hadn't read the minds of its opponents. It tried using hypnosis against nearly every pokémon between the four trainers, but the results were largely the same.

Niko sat down at the end of the day looking dispirited. _Where did I go wrong? What is noctowl seeing?_

And then the idea came to him. _Oh, oh no…_ he thought. _Is noctowl seeing its own dreams?_

"Why didn't I think of it sooner!?" Niko exclaimed.

"Think of what sooner?" Fay asked. His question wasn't answered, because in the middle of dinner, Niko got up and walked over to noctowl. "Can we speak alone for a moment?"

Noctowl nodded and hovered next to its trainer as they walked to the edge of the mountain ledge they were camping on. Niko stood there for a moment as they gazed up at the moon and stars above.

"Noctowl…when you attempt dream eater…are you seeing _your_ dreams, and not your opponents?"

For a moment, the two were silent, but noctowl eventually nodded, looking rather sad.

"…are you having bad dreams?" Niko finally asked. Noctowl nodded. "Obviously, you know what they're about, but I don't. Are they about the present?" Noctowl shook its head. "The future? Because if you're worried about the Silver Conference, you shouldn't be. I am too, but I think we can win the whole thing this time!"

Once again the owl pokémon shook its head. "Oh…" Niko said solemnly. "It's about your past, isn't it?"

Noctowl nodded.

"Bad memories of your past…friends? Family? A mixture of the two?"

Noctowl nodded to the last option. Niko was starting to get a sense of what was going on.

"I think I'm starting to understand this. But Noctowl, if you want to learn this move, you need to learn to control your memories. You're trying to invade the mind of an opponent, right? That takes a strong mental state to do so, and you can't be blinded by your own mind! Do you understand what I'm saying?"

Noctowl nodded once more, also looking solemn.

"I get that you have bad memories of the past. We all do. We all have said and done things that we regret. We've all lost people close to us, either through argument or death, or even both. I don't know what happened to you, and I probably never will. But you need to understand that the present and the future are what we need to focus on, not the past. Because if we live in the past, we lose sight of what's happening right here, right now, right in front of us. You're a smart pokémon, and you know that. You are more than capable of overpowering your own mind. And when you can do that, you will be able to overpower the mind of any other opponent we face. And I promise that I'll be with you every step of the way, when you're trying to learn this and after you've mastered it. Do you understand?"

Noctowl turned to Niko and nodded. It did understand, and if it had to be honest with itself, Niko was right. It couldn't just give up on learning a move because of something that happened in the past, regardless of what it was. Niko depended on it to learn this move, and noctowl was not going to allow itself to disappoint its trainer. It had too much pride to fail.

The following day, after spending a most of the day traversing the mountain range and canyon below them, the group settled down about midway through Route 45. Niko, emboldened by his conversation with noctowl the previous night, was ready to give the dream eater practice another go. This time, Brittany and tangela would help.

"Alright tangela!" Brittany said as she summoned her vine pokémon. "We're trying to help Niko and noctowl perfect dream eater. Are you alright with going to sleep?"

Tangela nodded with some suspicion. Noctowl then put it to sleep with a successful hypnosis.

"Noctowl, use dream eater!" Niko commanded. "Remember what we talked about last night. Focus solely on the opponent's mind, and not your own. Focus on their mind…"

Noctowl closed its eyes and shut out everything surrounding it: the sights, smells, and sounds, and pried around for tangela's mind. It finally found it, and made the attempt to pierce the mind for its dreams. Fortunately, tangela's dreams were relatively easy to penetrate, and suddenly the grass type shivered as noctowl was invading its dreams.

"Yes! Noctowl! You did it!" Niko shouted happily. "I knew you could do it!"

Noctowl opened its eyes and turned to its trainer, grinning. For the owl pokémon, its trainer's happiness was what mattered the most to it. It made this progress worth it.

Brittany picked up tangela and reassured it that everything was okay. Tangela didn't seem too happy about being used as a test dummy, but it seemed to forgive noctowl later during dinner. Later that night, Niko looked over at noctowl, who liked to sleep in the trees and keep watch on and off with some of the other pokémon. For the first time in days, the owl pokémon seemed at peace.


	47. Episode 47: New Bark Town again!

**Episode 47: New Bark Town again!**

The days following noctowl's successful attempt at dream eater were largely the same—the group would spend most of the day travelling, and would occasionally save some time for Niko and Fay to train with their pokémon. They were seeing success in their individual team's abilities to learn new moves and improve old ones, but at a far slower pace than they would have liked.

Eventually they traversed the mountainous region of Johto and arrived in New Bark Town nearly a week after leaving Blackthorn City. It was sunset when they set foot into the town, and they could see children leaving the town square where they were playing to head inside for dinner. It was oddly nostalgic walking through. This was where they first set foot in Johto. So much had changed since their last visit. Each trainer reflected on this for a moment as they absentmindedly approached Professor Elm's lab, thinking about their journey up to this point.

As expected, Professor Elm was in his lab, working on something or another. As Niko shut the door behind him, Elm immediately looked up, nearly dropping a stack of books off his desk and onto the floor. He quickly caught them and returned them to a relatively neat stack before focusing his attention on the four trainers standing at his front door.

"Oh! Hello you kids! I-I-I didn't expect you four to be around. Is everything okay?"

"Absolutely! We were just visiting on our way to Mt. Silver," Fay explained.

"Oh?" Professor Elm asked quizzically. Then he thought for a moment. "Oh! You two are competing in the Silver Conference, are you not?"

"Well, we plan to. We just got our badge from Blackthorn City about a week ago. Clair told us that this would be the safest path to get to Mt. Silver," Fay continued.

"She is certainly correct, Fay," Elm said as he stood up from his desk. "Since you've taken the time to come visit, how about dinner at my house? I'm sure my wife would be happy to have you four over. We'd love to hear about your journey," Elm said as he grabbed for his bag and began to walk out of the lab, the group following closely behind.

Minutes later they found themselves in Elm's kitchen with his wife, both of whom were busy cooking. As they cooked, the four talked among themselves about the journey to Mt. Moon. JJ pulled out the map to point to them where it was.

Clair was right—there was no obvious path from Blackthorn City. There was only down to New Bark Town and then northeast through Route 28 to Mt. Silver. Judging from the map, it would take some time to get there, if they travelled at a brisk enough pace.

"Dinner's ready!" Elm shouted out as he seated himself between his wife and Brittany. Niko, JJ, and Fay sat opposite them. "So…tell us about your journey. What kind of pokémon have you caught here?"

Niko went first, "well, besides totodile—which evolved into feraligatr recently—I caught a noctowl, yanma, and delibird."

"Ah, I see. Do you have an affinity for flying types, Niko?" Elm asked, a brow raised.

"Err…no, not really. All three came to me, honestly."

"Fair enough. What about you, Fay?"

"Well, cyndaquil evolved, but I also have a flaaffy, ursaring, sudowoodo, and kingdra."

"That sounds like a strong team, definitely. And you've both qualified for the Silver Conference, yes?" Niko and Fay nodded. "Well, my wife and I will be there to cheer you two on. I'm taking work off next week to go and watch. I expect great things from both of you!" Elm smiled warmly.

"Wow, well, thanks, professor. We appreciate that," Niko said nervously.

Elm now turned to JJ and Brittany. "So, JJ, Mr. Pokémon tells me that there was a chikorita in that egg, and that you caught it. How is it doing?"

"Chikorita is just fine, professor. It doesn't like to battle much, and I've had difficulty trying to teach it anything, but otherwise it is well kept. I take care of it daily. I have also caught an azurill, which I understand isn't native to Johto, right?"

"You're correct. Azurill come from the Hoenn region, where its evolutions, marill and azumarill, are also native. For some reason, we haven't found too many azurill here in Johto. We theorize that it's because the marill take precious care of their young. Others theorize that its due to the ecosystem in Johto that keeps marill from breeding azurill."

"That's interesting. If that's true, then maybe this azurill is from the Hoenn region, but came here with a trainer or its family."

"That is possible, too. Either way, I'm glad to see that your pokémon are also doing well. Brittany, what's new with you?"

"Well, I've decided that I might want to be a pokémon breeder like JJ, and so I've spent most of my time learning about that, sometimes from JJ, and sometimes from people we meet on the road. I hatched a pichu from an egg, and I try to take care of it daily as well."

"I'm glad all four of you have enjoyed your Johto experience. How do you feel now that it will soon come to an end?" Elm asked, looking around at the four young trainers before him.

"I think I've learned a lot more about myself and my pokémon, to be honest," Niko said. "I feel more hopeful for the future, and more confident in myself."

"I've enjoyed the opportunity to get to know more about the pokémon that I have, and finding new ways to train them, based on their unique personalities. The path forward for me is becoming clearer every day," Fay added.

"For me, watching these two grow and get stronger has made the journey worth it for me," Brittany added. "Besides that, I've really just enjoyed the company. I really like travelling with these guys."

JJ spoke last, "I've learned more about my goal—being a pokémon breeder—as well as gotten better at battling. I've also realized that having skills in other areas will help get me to my own goal faster."

Elm sat back and placed both hands on his stomach. "I see. Well, regardless of where you go next, know that my wife and I will always be a resource for you."

"Thank you, professor. It's much appreciated," Fay replied as he finished his meal. Elm nodded, and then stood up to help clear the table. He then offered the group to spend the night, and they gladly accepted, going to bed in the same places they did several months ago.

The following morning, the four trainers said their farewells to Elm and his wife, promising to see them again when they got to Mt. Silver. As they were about to leave town, they saw a short red-haired kid approaching them.

"Hello?" Niko asked. The kid glared at him with a tensed, contorted face. Niko returned the expression, as if he were a mirror, and continued to walk past.

"Ow! Hey!" JJ said as the kid pushed his shoulder and continued to walk on. The kid turned and looked at JJ. They were roughly the same height, with the curly blonde being barely an inch taller. "What was that for?"

"Nothing. You want something?"

"Uh…no? You pushed me, kid, not the other way around."

"So what if I did? What're you gonna do about it?"

"Nothing? You're not making any sense at all!" JJ shouted, his hands in the shape of fists. Brittany tugged on his shoulder. He was about to turn and leave when the kid responded.

"Yeah. Battle me. If you have any guts, that is."

"Really? Who _are_ you?"

"The next champion of the Silver Conference. Fight me in a battle, now!"

JJ, confused as ever, sighed heavily. "Alright kid. Guess I need to show you some manners. How does two versus two sound?"

"Pfft, you really think I can do that? I just started my journey! Got my pokémon yesterday!"

"Oh, and I was supposed to know that?" JJ retorted, still looking bemused.

"Well, yeah. You're obviously in New Bark Town. There's no other reason to hang around this trash heap than to get a starter pokémon from that idiot professor."

"Don't you dare…" JJ said, whipping out a pokéball.

"I do. Cyndaquil, you're up!" The red-haired boy shouted.

"Kid, I'll put you in your place. Chikorita, I choose you!" JJ commanded, sending out his leaf pokémon.

"What!? You moron…I have a fire type. You have a grass type. I automatically win."

"That's not how battling works. Let me prove that to you. Chikorita, use tackle!"

The leaf pokémon rushed at its opponent, quickly knocking it over. The boy, in shock at the relative speed of chikorita, growled as he commanded cyndaquil use tackle as well. The two starter pokémon were locked in a tackling match for a minute or so, before JJ figured he needed to drill some lessons into this kid's head.

"Chikorita, let's put this kid in his place! Use razor leaf!" JJ shouted.

"Wait…" Brittany wondered to Niko and Fay, "Chikorita doesn't like battling, _and_ it doesn't know razor leaf. What is JJ doing?"

Niko smiled. "Proving a point, I think. Chikorita doesn't have to like battling, but it likes JJ, and likes to see him happy. You've noticed that, right?" The brunette nodded, still looking at Niko. "Well, chikorita hasn't really battled much, but it knows that if JJ needs it to, it will. At least, that's what I'm guessing."

Brittany nodded and continued watching. Chikorita conjured up sharp leaves from the top of its head and swung them in cyndaquil's direction, pelting the fire mouse with the grass attack. The fire type fell backwards, looking defeated.

The red-haired boy looked down at cyndaquil, and then back at JJ, horrified. "You! You cheat!"

"What? I'm a cheater because _you_ lost? Get over yourself, kid, winning isn't everything."

"Yes! Yes, it is! What's the point of training pokémon if you can't use them to win?"

Niko and Fay then stepped forward. "If that's your philosophy, then so be it. You'll lose every time," Fay commented.

"He's right," Niko added, "Take it from me. You have to create real relationships with your pokémon to win. You have to befriend them first, and battle second."

"Why should I believe you?" He spat back.

"Because," Fay said, pulling out his badge case. "We have experience in this," Niko did the same, awing the red-haired trainer.

"Pfft. Must've taken you ages to do so. I'll beat them all on my first try!"

"Yeah? So did I," Fay said confidently. "Think about this, kid. We don't expect you to take our advice, but think about it."

With that said, the group turned and walked away, towards Mt. Silver and the Silver Conference, leaving the red-haired trainer and his defeated cyndaquil behind.


	48. Episode 48: The link between two regions

**Episode 48: The link between two regions**

Fay sat on a rock overlooking a valley below. The group had made it to Tohjo Falls, the boundary between Johto and Kanto. It was their last stop on the way to Mt. Silver, which was just north of the falls via Route 28. Judging by JJ's map, they were only a few days away from arriving at the conference.

During that time, him and Niko spent time training for the Silver Conference. At this point, they both felt ready enough for whatever would come their way. Both had also decided that they would bring back their pokémon from Pallet Town to compete, since neither of them had a full team of six while in Johto.

Sitting on the rock, Fay considered his journey through Johto in full. What _had_ he learned? What _did_ he gain from this journey? These were the questions that buzzed around in his head. He felt like Niko, of all people, gained the most from this journey. He was feeling more like himself. More like the boy he met back in school…

But what did he gain from all of this? A newfound interest in training dragons, perhaps? Possibly, but that deals with his future ambitions, and not his past endeavors. As he told Professor Elm, Fay had gained a better understanding of how to train pokémon with more unique characteristics. As he thought of this, he looked as quilava and sudowoodo, both of whom were cases in which he needed to step outside of what he knew about pokémon. He didn't necessarily have this problem in Kanto, with the exception of dratini, who was relatively calm compared to his imitation pokémon.

Still, the question remained. As he looked out at the border between the two regions, he understood that Johto was in some ways a new start after his travels in Kanto. However, in more ways it may have been only an extension, a continuation of his journey to the Indigo League. True, he started fresh with a new set of pokémon, but he was largely the same. Won every gym battle, even those that posed particularly difficult to him, such as Falkner. Niko didn't—he lost to two gym leaders, but Fay felt like his friend had gained more by losing than by winning.

Well, it's not like Fay _wanted_ to lose. After all, who does? He did his best and trusted in his pokémon, and he came out alright.

In his mind, Fay already knew that this would be the end of his journeys. He wouldn't challenge other gyms in other regions. He had his fun while it lasted, but the Silver Conference would be his last performance.

He thought this over on several occasions throughout his journeys in Johto. Over time, he gradually lost interest in challenging gyms. Despite enjoying the travelling and adventures, there was always something missing. At first, he couldn't quite figure it out. But after months of careful thought, Fay realized that it was a lack of passion.

When he first began his journey with Niko and JJ, he figured that maybe his goal was to become the champion of the Indigo League. And while there was no reason for him to not pursue this, Fay figured that it just wasn't in the cards for him. He was already a decent battler, a skilled enough pokémon trainer. What more could he do? Where could be improve? He didn't quite know, and it was at that point that he realized he would pursue other ventures.

He wasn't quite ready to tell this to Niko, Brittany, or JJ. The Silver Conference was the only thing that mattered at this point. He would have to put everything he had into it. After all, it would be the last time he had any sort of official battle for a long time.

He got up from the rock he was sitting on to go and join his friends at their campsite. The group had decided to settle down near a river that fed into the main waterfall at the Tohjo Falls. They were chatting happily about the tournament and what they might do after.

"Oh, hey Fay! What's up?" JJ asked as his black-haired friend sat down next to him. "Sandwich?"

"Thanks, JJ. And I was just checking out the view over there."

"Acting pensive, aren't we?" Brittany asked, smirking.

"N-no…" Fay stuttered. He rarely stuttered. "I wasn't _acting_ pensive. I was just thinking about our journey, that's all?"

Niko looked bemused. "What about our journey?"

"Just how far we've come since we started in New Bark Town all those months ago, and even all the way back to when we first left Pallet Town."

"Yeah, we've come a long way, haven't we?" JJ said as he stretched his arms out. "It's been a lot of fun, though."

"Wait, we'll still do stuff together, right?" Brittany asked, looking concerned. "After all, the journey doesn't end here, does it?"

Fay smiled warmly, and looked up directly at his brunette friend. "Of course it doesn't, Brittany. Why would it?"

"I don't know…I just got the impression that it would come to an end after the Silver Conference."

"I see no reason why it would," Fay said before biting into a sandwich.

"He's completely correct, Brittany," Niko added. "We'll always be friends, and there will always be places for us to adventure to."

"You think so?" JJ inquired.

Niko nodded. "I know so. It's a big world. And I'd like to think that an adventure isn't just restricted to visiting new places. It can be visiting old places, too!" This elicited a nod from Brittany and JJ.

"Well, I'm gonna head to bed now," JJ said, getting up to prepare to go to sleep. "Night guys."

"Night, JJ," Niko replied as he did the same. Brittany followed suit shortly after, leaving Fay alone to his own thoughts again.

The following day, the group crossed over Tohjo Falls and onto Route 28, which was largely a forested route, and a nice change of pace after the week and a half of travelling through mountain terrain.

By nightfall, they were less than a day away from Mt. Silver. Before dinner was ready, Fay was sitting down on his sleeping bag, next to quilava. The two were relatively far away from Niko, JJ, and Brittany. Fay turned to his volcano pokémon, who had just woken up from a nap. Quilava looked back up at its trainer and smiled.

"Good evening, quilava. Sleep well?" The fire type nodded. "Good. Say, tomorrow we'll finally reach Mt. Silver, and register for the Silver Conference. Do you know what that is?"

Quilava thought for a moment, trying to remember when Fay had discussed it. She shrugged, as if saying she needed a reminder.

"Well, it's a big tournament between trainers from all over Johto. I'm entering, and so are Niko, Jacob, Cody, and Elliot. We might have to fight any of them at one point, you know."

Quilava continued to listen, entranced by her trainer's explanation.

"Last time we entered a tournament, I faced off against both Niko and Elliot, and beat them both. It was a good feeling, in an odd sort of way. It verified the hard work my pokémon and I had put in up until that point.

"When we get there, I'm going to ask the same from you. Do your best, never let up, regardless of who the opponent is. Got it?" Quilava nodded, determined as ever. "Great, I expected nothing less."

They sat for a while in silence, watching Niko train his pokémon while JJ and Brittany ran around and played with theirs.

"You know, when I first met you I had no idea what to do," Fay began, "I'd never had a pokémon that was so afraid of everything like you were. Honestly. Not that's it's a bad thing or anything," he reassured quilava, "but I didn't quite know how to train a pokémon that didn't know how to battle and was afraid of its own type. But eventually I figured it out, and I'm glad I did. I'm glad that I met you, quilava.

"You've made me a better trainer. By going through what we have together, I have a better understanding of what it even means to be a pokémon trainer. It's not just all about catching rare or strong pokémon. It's about learning about your individual pokémon, their needs and wants, likes and dislikes, advantages and disadvantages. Niko has also had to learn that through feraligatr. I think every trainer has pokémon like that, at one point or another.

"The point of all of this is, I'm proud to call you my pokémon. Like, really proud. You've stepped up more than I could have imagined. It's hard to believe that you were once this tiny little cyndaquil who feared its own shadow. Now, you're becoming a very powerful fire type."

Fay clapped the back of quilava. Niko, Brittany, and JJ had just finished whatever they were doing and sat down for dinner. The two got up and joined their friends in their last dinner of their travels. During dinner, everyone seemed to be a little nostalgic as they ate and reminisced on their adventures.

"Remember that time JJ was trying to get dressed and sudowoodo hid his clothes?" Brittany joked, remembering a time in the Olivine City pokémon center. JJ's face went red as he chuckled softly.

"Oh yeah! Damn, Fay, your sudowoodo sure is the prankster…" Niko told his friend as he bit into a sandwich.

"He sure is…I remember the time when hoothoot was sleeping and magnemite accidentally used thunderwave on it, knocking it out of the tree."

"It was so mad at magnemite, too!" Niko laughed. "It wasn't easy trying to train them for the next couple days, hoothoot wouldn't even look at magnemite!"

"We've had a lot of great memories…" Brittany said with a hint of sadness in her voice.

"We have!" Niko said, patting her back, "But we're going to have so many more in the future!"

Brittany nodded. "Like when cyndaquil faced off against scyther, and used ember for the first time."

"Or when feraligatr kicked kingdra's ass back in Blackthorn," Fay added.

"Or when JJ's umbreon beat Team Rocket in Goldenrod," Niko said, turning to JJ.

"We've met so many cool people, too," Brittany continued, thinking about the people they've met on their journey.

"And so many weird or evil people, too. Remember Rex?"

"Or Team Rocket?" Fay added.

"But we did meet Kurt and Maizie, Jacob and Cody, David, Norman, Eusine and Morty, Lance and Karen, and the Dragon Master. They were all great people," Brittany continued.

"Yeah…" JJ said. "I wonder how they're all doing."

"You mean, you wonder how Maizie is doing?" Niko corrected him.

JJ laughed and nodded. "Yeah, I do miss her. She's the closest I've ever felt to actual love."

"Speaking of which, do you guys remember what the seer told us?" Brittany asked. The three boys sat there and thought about it for a moment.

"Yeah, kind of," Niko finally said, "Something about be having difficulty that will test me in some way. As for love, she said something about be not being able to seek it."

"For me," JJ began, "she said something about me finding love in the last place I'll look. My dreams would be crushed once, and some other things."

Fay went next. "She said that 'at the moment that I face my greatest rival, and in some ways, my opposite, I will discover the calling of my life.'"

Brittany turned to Niko for a moment. It could have been instinct, but she may have figured out what the seer meant. "Anyways, I think mine was something along the lines of me finding love twice, with a stranger and a friend, both unrequited. She also said my success in life is determined by this love."

"I wonder what she means by all of that. I guess I never really thought much about what she told us," Niko commented.

"Same here," Brittany said, "Although, I am kind of a sucker for this stuff, so it's weird that I haven't given it much thought."

The group continued to discuss their futures based on what the seer told them. Since she didn't say much, and the future was so uncertain, there wasn't much to discuss. Nevertheless, they talked well into the night, either about the seer or about their adventures in Kanto and Johto. Each of them, particularly Fay, had an odd feeling that things were about to change, and soon.


	49. Episode 49: The Silver Conference

**Episode 49: The Silver Conference**

The following day the group finally made it to Mt. Silver, the site of the Silver Conference. Like Indigo Plateau, it was a set of four stadiums; a single large one in the middle with three smaller arenas connecting to it. Going into it, Fay and Niko both seemed to feel good. Niko wasn't nearly as nervous as he was for the Indigo League, and Fay seemed to be roughly the same.

They immediately approached the registration desk to sign up for the tournament. A lady with, coincidentally enough, silver hair and a silver-colored pantsuit sat at the front desk, constantly accepting new applicants for the conference.

"Badges?" She demanded as she held her hand out. Niko whipped out his badge case and handed it to her. "Hmm...zephyr, hive, plain, fog, mineral, storm, glacier, and rising badges. Well done. May I see your pokédex too? Hmm…alright then. You're good to go. Here is the key to your suite. Thanks!"

Niko smiled as he made way for Fay, who repeated the process with the registration lady. Within moments he too was set to go. They walked over to reunite with Brittany and JJ, and went up to the rooms that were rented out to them.

Like with the Indigo League, they had a suite that consisted of two rooms and a common room with a table and chairs in the middle. They immediately set their bags down and, after a week of travelling, immediately crashed onto their beds. JJ, Brittany, and Fay all feel asleep relatively quickly. Niko, who had difficulty sleeping in the middle of the day, decided to instead go take a walk around the stadium.

As he walked the circumference of the main stadium, he saw dozens of trainers all excitedly walking around, talking with friends, family, or even pokémon. As he continued, he suddenly saw a pair of faces that he recognized from months prior.

"Kurt? Maizie?" Niko asked, furrowing his brow.

"Niko!" Maizie cried out, running over and embracing the brown-haired trainer. "How have you been? Where is everyone?"

"They're all taking a nap. We've been on the road for weeks now, so everyone's pretty beat. And I just couldn't sleep, so I decided to take a walk. How are you though? How's everything with the business?"

"Things are going pretty great, right grandpa?" Maizie asked, turning to her grandfather, who nodded. "Yup! So…are you and Fay ready?"

"I think so…" Niko said, looking rather tired as he did so. "I feel better this time than I did in the Indigo League, if that's an indication of anything."

Maizie laughed. "I'm sure it is, Niko. You'll both do fine. Hey, would you all like to get dinner together tonight and catch up?"

"Sure, why not! Meet us at the dining hall in a few hours, sound good?"

Maizie nodded and walked off with her grandfather. Niko continued down the hall for a bit, watching people as he went by. It was odd seeing so many people at once; being on the road all the time, Niko wasn't quite used to large crowds. Furthermore, as more of an introvert, he didn't much like being in crowds at all.

After a while, Niko was getting tired from the walking, and decided to head out to the main entrance and sit by one of the fountains, continuing to people-watch. He was seeing friends and rivals being reunited, the occasional gym leader walking by and, after a while, another pair of familiar faces.

"Jacob? Cody?" Niko shouted, waving to his two black-haired friends. Jacob waved back just as eagerly, and ran up to Niko, sitting down next to him beside the fountain. Cody stood in front of the two of them, his tablet in hand.

"Niko! What's up man?" Jacob exclaimed, slapping Niko on the back.

"Heh, hey Jacob! Not much, just kind of relaxing right now."

"Calm before the storm, eh? Yeah, I feel ya. We just got here. This guy kept slowing us down," he said, pointing to Cody.

"That's bs and you know it, Jacob," Cody retorted. " _You_ woke up too late!"

"Yeah? Well _you_ took forever to get _out_ of bed!" Jacob snapped back.

"Woah guys…it's fine. Registration ends in a couple hours anyways. You're fine!" Niko reassured his two friends.

"True. Anyways, where is everyone?" Jacob wondered.

"Sleeping. We're all pretty exhausted. Only I couldn't sleep, so I just took a walk instead. Say, wanna meet us for dinner in a few hours? I'm sure the gang will be pretty hungry when they get up."

"Yeah, I'm down. Cody, you in?" Jacob asked, turning to his friend, who was busy on a tablet. Cody looked up and nodded. "Great, we'll see you then. We should probably go and register now. What do they ask for?"

"Just your badges and pokédex. That's all," Niko answered. "It takes like two seconds, and then you get your room keys. The rooms are pretty nice, too."

"Sweet, we'll catch ya later then Niko!" Jacob said as he got up and walked away with Cody.

"See ya Niko," Cody said as he waved behind his head.

Niko waved back, knowing that Cody wouldn't see it. After a couple more minutes of people-watching, he got up and decided to head back to the suite. On his way, he noticed another familiar group of faces.

"Mom? Dad? Jake?" Niko asked as he saw his family.

"Niko!" Jake shouted as he ran over to embrace his older brother. "You ready? You ready?"

"Ha, yeah I'm ready. How're you?"

"Great! I just turned 11, and I think I'm ready to start out on my own journey!" Jake said proudly. "What kind of pokémon do you have?"

"I'd show you, but I left them back in my suite. Come by later and you can meet them," Niko replied, ruffling his brother's hair. He had gotten much taller since Niko last saw him, now only half a foot shorter than he was.

"So, you're ready son? You really think so?" Niko's Dad asked as he patted his son on the shoulder.

"I really think so. I've improved a lot since last year, thanks to my friends and pokémon."

"Well, don't get too overconfident, that'll hurt your performance for sure," Dad advised, wagging a finger. Niko nodded.

"Anyways, I need to get back to my suite. I'm pretty tired, actually," Niko said, hugging his mother before waving bye to his family. "See you all later!" They waved back as Niko continued back to his suite.

By the time he got back, everyone was still passed out. Niko tossed off his shoes and threw himself onto his bed, knowing that he wouldn't get too much sleep, but didn't think much of it…

* * *

A couple hours later, and Niko found himself woken up by JJ.

"Hey, Niko, time to get some food."

"Oh!" Niko said, getting up with a jolt. "Yeah! I told Maizie, Jacob, and Cody to meet us at the dining hall!"

"Maizie's here…?" JJ asked rather quietly. Niko nodded.

"Yeah, I went for a walk while you all were napping. I met up with Maizie and Kurt, Jacob and Cody, and my family. Now, c'mon, let's head out. Where are Fay and Brittany?"

"Oh, they've already left to get us a seat. We figure it will be pretty crowded there."

Niko quickly threw his shoes on, washed his face to wake himself up, and ran out behind JJ as they sped-walked to the dining hall on the main floor.

As they arrived they saw Fay and Brittany already sitting with their other friends and Elliot, who had recently joined them. As they approached, Maizie got up and hugged JJ, who returned the hug with a rather warm look on his face. Niko smiled softly as he went to sit down next to Jacob, who was in a heated discussion with Cody about strategies. Fay and Elliot were talking about their gym battles, and Brittany was kind of just staring into space.

"You alright, Brittany?" Niko asked. The brunette came back down to earth and stared wide-eyed at Niko.

"Oh! Yeah…heh. I was just thinking is all."

"About what?"

"Nothing important, really. JJ and Maizie seem to be reuniting well," she said as she leaned over their table to see the two locked in a kiss.

Niko turned around and dropped his jaw. "Oh…my. I wonder if they missed each other at all."

Brittany laughed. "Nahhh, what makes you say that?" She answered playfully.

"No idea," Niko responded as he took his eyes away from the two lovebirds. Moments later JJ noticed that his friends were eying him and broke off the kiss, blushing heavily. Maizie turned red as well, looking away as she slowly walked back to her seat next to Brittany. JJ sat down opposite her, next to Niko. "I see you've met Maizie," Niko asked playfully.

"Err…yeah. She's doing uh fine…" JJ responded shyly. "I'm uh…going to get some food. I'll be right back."

"Got it. I'll join you, actually!" Niko said as he got up and joined his curly blonde friend. "So…you two alright? You and Maizie, I mean."

"Yeah, we're good. Well, we haven't seen each other in a while, and after this we probably won't see each other for a long time, depending on where we go next, but I'm glad she's here."

"I get that. I'm glad she's here, too. For you, I mean."

"Huh?" JJ turned to Niko. "What do you mean by that?"

"Oh, nothing really. I think you need someone in your life besides just us, you know? I mean, we get pretty boring after a while."

JJ scoffed. "Pfft, that's not true. I love being with you, Brittany, and Fay! It'd be great to be with Maizie, but I don't know where I'd be without the adventures I've had with you three. But you're right…we all need someone else in our lives," JJ then scratched his chin for a moment. "Do you have anyone like that?"

"Who…me?" Niko asked with a bemused expression. "No, not at all, actually. I mean, just my family really."

"No love interests at all?" JJ pressed further.

Niko shook his head. "Nope, none at all."

"Ah, I see," JJ said. He picked up a sandwich and looked deep in thought, as if he knew something and wanted to say it, but couldn't.

"JJ…" Niko asked sternly. "Is there something I should know about?"

"I-I uh don't know what you're talking about, Niko!" JJ stammered. He picked up his plate and hurried back to their table.

"Oh, whatever…" Niko sighed as he followed suit. Everyone had already gotten their food and were halfway through it. Now Maizie and Jacob were engaged in conversation; Fay, Cody, and Elliot were all discussing pokémon technology, a mutual interest for the three of them. Brittany was listening in on both conversations, hardly paying attention to either. Niko and JJ sat down next to the two girls and started talking with them and Jacob.

"So, Niko…how does all of this work?" Jacob asked. "I've never been to a league tournament before."

"Oh, yeah. No worries. I can explain it to you. Colton Goodshow—the president of the Pokémon League—will explain everything tomorrow I think. That's when the first round begins," Niko then went into an explanation of the tournament process as he understood it, with the caveat that it might be different for this tournament as opposed to the Indigo one. Jacob seemed to understand and looked more fired up than ever.

* * *

"WELCOME TO THE SILVER CONFERENCE!" Colton Goodshow's voice exploded throughout the main stadium. I am your host, Mr. Colton Goodshow, the President of the Pokémon League. There are 128 registered trainers in this tournament. Over the next few days, the pool will whittle down until there are only two trainers left who will compete in the final round of the tournament. There will be seven rounds total. The first round will be 1-on-1 pokémon battles, the next two will be 3-on-3 battles, and the final four will be full 6-on-6 battles. The winner of the tournament will not only gain entry into the Hall of Fame, but they will also be offered to challenge the Johto Elite 4 and, if they advance far enough, the champion of Johto, Lance! Now, to light the torch beginning the tournament!"

A balding man ran up the stairs with a torch in hand, lighting it just as the raven-haired trainer did at Indigo Plateau a little over a year previous.

"Now, if I'll have your attention, please turn to our screen, where we will determine the matches for the first round. As you can see, they are divided into four sections, each color-coded to match one of the four stadiums. By the time we get to the final 8, all matches will be in the main stadium. Now, without further ado…"

The 128 faces on the screen began to shuffle around, resulting in 64 different match-ups, each stadium holding 16 matches. As Niko scanned the screen for his face, he saw he was facing a pink-haired girl in the main stadium to start. Fay, Elliot, and Cody were in the smaller stadiums, all facing off against strangers. Jacob was also in the main stadium, also with an unfamiliar face.

"The first matches of the first round will begin in half an hour, so get ready to go!" Goodshow bellowed through the microphone before leaving.

"Well, I'm the second match in the main stadium, so I should get ready. Good luck you guys," Niko said as he turned to Fay, Elliot, Jacob, and Cody.

"Yeah, good luck mate. I'll be able to watch you, as my match is the last of the round," Jacob said, shaking Niko's hand.

"I'm somewhere in the middle of mine, so I'll be able to watch, too," Fay said, patting his friend on the shoulder.

"Alright. Let's kick ass out there today!" Niko shouted, raising his fist into the air. Jacob emulated him, while the other three just nodded and smiled with determined looks. The Silver Conference was on.


	50. Episode 50: Success and arguments!

**Episode 50: Success and arguments!**

The Silver Conference was finally about to begin. Niko was the first of his friends to battle, in the second match of the first round, and in the main stadium. He was up against a pink-haired woman in a one-on-one battle.

As Niko and the woman—named Lily—both appeared on the battlefield, a judge that stood on the sidelines in between them explained the rules of the match. "This will be a one-on-one pokémon match between Niko of Pallet Town and Lily of Azalea Town. The last pokémon standing will be the winner of the match. Any questions?" Niko and Lily both shook their heads. "Then begin!"

"Magneton, I choose you!" Niko shouted out.

"Blissey, you're up!" Lily commanded in a cutesy voice. Out of the pokéball erupted a large pink and white creature with an egg around its waist. It also had little wings coming out of its shoulders. To Niko, it certainly looked like an odd pokémon.

Back up in the stands, JJ pulled out his pokédex:

" _Blissey, the happiness pokémon. Normal type. Biting into one of its delicious eggs that blissey provides will make everyone around smile with joy_."

"Seems like an easy enough fight," JJ commented.

"Magneton, use thunder wave!" Niko commanded. The magnet pokémon quickly charged and released an electric wave that temporarily stunned blissey. "Now, follow up with thunderbolt!"

"Blissey dear, use flamethrower to block it!" Lily squeaked.

" _What?!_ " Niko cried out, stunned. This wasn't good. It wasn't good at all. "Err…magneton, use sonicboom!"

"Blissey, egg bomb into the sonicboom!" Lily squeaked again. The normal type launched an egg from its pouch at the sonic wave, colliding with it and halting the explosion. "Follow up with sing!"

"Magneton, quickly use sonicboom!" Niko commanded. This single attack could make or break him. Luckily, magneton hit the sonicboom fast enough to block the sing, as it quickly collided with blissey and knocked it back a step. "Now, follow up with thunderbolt!"

Magneton buzzed loudly as it conjured another bolt of electricity and launched it at blissey. The happiness pokémon blocked it with flamethrower, but in that time magneton had gained ground on blissey, launching another thunderbolt up close. Blissey, now clearly damaged, belted out a flamethrower at magneton who, had it not used sonicboom, would have been toast. Blissey reeled from the resulting explosion caused by flamethrower and sonicboom, as did magneton, but the latter did so much faster.

"Magneton, here's our chance! Finish it off with thunderbolt!" Niko shouted out, throwing out a hand as a gesture. Magneton quickly shot a final thunderbolt at its opponent, causing it to collapse on its back, defeated.

"Blissey is unable to battle, magneton wins! The victory goes to Niko from Pallet Town!"

"Yes! Magneton we did it!" Niko pumped his fist at his side as magneton zoomed back and tackled Niko, causing his ears to experience a slightly dull pain. He ignored it though; he was through one round. He just needed to win a few more to beat his record.

He returned to the stands with his friends, all of whom cheered him as he sat down next to Brittany, who had saved a seat for him.

"Dude, your magneton is tough!" Maizie said as she slapped Niko on the back.

"Heh, thanks, Maizie. I'm really proud of magneton, actually."

The group watched the next couple of rounds before Fay, Cody, and Elliot had to leave for theirs. They were in two of the smaller stadiums. Fay and Cody were in one, and Elliot in another. The group wished Elliot good luck as they followed Fay and Cody to their stadium, where Fay would be battling first.

Fay approached the field at roughly the same time his opponent—Bill—did. The judge explained the rules of the match and commanded them to start. Bill sent out his pokémon first.

"Xatu, I choose you!" The orange-haired trainer yelled out.

"Flaaffy, let's go!" Fay commanded, summoning his wool pokémon.

"What's that pokémon?" Niko wondered, pulling out his pokédex:

" _Xatu, the mystic pokémon. Psychic and flying type. Once it begins to meditate at sunrise, the entire day will pass before it will move again_."

"Flaaffy, use thunderwave!" Fay commanded. As the wool pokémon unleashed a wave of electricity, xatu apparently disappeared all of the sudden. "What?"

"Xatu used teleport," Bill explained. "Now, use night shade!"

Xatu reappeared behind flaaffy and unleashed the night shade attack, hitting flaaffy in the back. Fay instructed it to use thunderpunch, but xatu teleported once again, causing the punch to miss. Xatu then reappeared behind flaaffy once more, using psychic and throwing flaaffy around the battlefield.

 _Alright then, Bill and xatu, you want to play like this? We can play like this_. "Flaaffy, hold on for a moment."

"Xatu, use night shade!" Bill commanded. As xatu reappeared behind flaaffy, Fay found his chance.

"Use flash!" Fay shouted out. The bulb on flaaffy's tail began to blink furiously, causing xatu to close its eyes out of shock. "Turn around and use thunderpunch!"

Flaaffy obeyed, its fist lighting up with electricity. It slammed into xatu's face, sending the mystic pokémon several feet backwards. Fay commanded it to use thunderpunch repeatedly, quickly disposing of xatu.

"Xatu is unable to battle, flaaffy wins! The victory goes to Fay from Pallet Town!" The judge declared.

"Great job, flaaffy!" Fay sat as he crouched down and fist-bumped his wool pokémon. "You did amazing out there!" Flaaffy smiled and it embraced its trainer. Fay then returned to the stands as they awaited Cody's match.

Meanwhile, in another stadium, Elliot was facing off in his own match-up.

"Scizor, steel wing!" Elliot commanded. The pincer pokémon rushed forward at its opponent—a crobat—who dodged and tried using sludge bomb for the fifth time. Elliot, irritated that his opponent couldn't think of much else, chose to quickly end the match for his own sanity. Scizor struck crobat multiple times before ultimately slamming it into the ground, defeating it.

"Crobat is unable to battle, scizor wins! The victory goes to Elliot from Viridian City!" The judge declared.

As Elliot walked out of the stadium, he looked up and saw Fay's victory on the screen. He was glad that Fay was doing well, and hoped that he would one day get to re-match his family member. Nevertheless, he continued over to their stadium to watch Cody's match.

"This match will be between Cody of Viridian City and Liam of Olivine City," The judge then explained the rules of the match and moments later it was on.

"Sneasel, you're up!" Liam shouted.

"Steelix, I choose you!" Cody commanded.

"Woah…" Niko said in awe. "Cody has a steelix?"

"Yup," Jacob responded. "Just evolved, actually. He's pretty proud of it."

Niko nodded and continued to watch the match, hoping he wouldn't have to face that steelix anytime soon. Meanwhile, JJ whipped out his pokédex to analyze sneasel:

" _Sneasel, the sharp claw pokémon. Dark and ice type. This cunning pokémon hides in the covers of darkness, waiting to attack its prey_."

Cody began with an iron tail that sneasel easily dodged, disappearing to use faint attack. The dark type move landed, hitting steelix in the mouth. However, as sneasel began to fall back to the ground, steelix whacked it with its tail, tossing it to the side. The sharp claw pokémon rolled onto the battlefield, looking rather exhausted after a single move.

"Sneasel, use beat up!" Liam commanded. However, Cody and steelix were faster. Cody commanded steelix to use rock slide, and the iron snake pokémon summoned multiple rocks and tossed them all at sneasel, who tried to dodged each one but ended up getting hit with the attack and crashed back into the ground.

"Steelix, finish it off with earthquake!" Cody shouted, tossing his hand out as a gesture. Steelix them roared out loudly as it shook the ground, causing sneasel to vibrate aggressively. The dark type fainted moments later.

"Sneasel is unable to battle, steelix wins! The victory goes to Cody from Viridian City!"

"Great job, steelix," Cody muttered cheerfully, returning his iron snake pokémon. They met up with the rest of the group near the exit of the battlefield. Everyone was congratulating them on their relatively easy win against Liam.

"So what, now we just have Jacob left?" Fay wondered, looking around at his friends.

"Yup, I'm last. In the main stadium, too,"

"Well, why don't we head back there and watch some of the matches until yours is up?" Fay suggest. Jacob nodded in agreement, and the eight trainers all walked back to the bigger stadium to wait for Jacob's match.

Meanwhile, Niko, Fay, Elliot, and Cody were all watching the matches carefully. Any one of these trainers could be their next opponent, and they all wanted to be prepared. Brittany and JJ chuckled silently as they observed their friends. During some of the matches, the four competitors would argue and debate over strategies that the winning and losing trainers used, trying to understand why some moves were used and others weren't.

It got heated a few times, particularly when Niko and Elliot got into an argument over whether or not to use type strategy, which Elliot was particularly fond of. Fay and Cody generally took his side on this issue, with the former also understanding Niko's argument, which was essentially that type didn't _always_ matter; that sometimes a pokémon could overcome its opponent even though it was at a type disadvantage. As Fay had been in that situation on several occasions, he was able to sympathize with his friend. Overall, it was a silly argument to begin with, but Niko wasn't too happy after it. He knew that Elliot and Cody's points made sense, but didn't like how pure they were acting, as if type strategies were the only real way to strategize. It made him want to fight both of them and prove them wrong, but he knew reality might not agree.

He stayed silent for a while. It wasn't that big of a deal, but Niko disliked arguing with others, and conflict more generally (pokémon battles aside). They continued to watch and comment on the battles until it was Jacob's turn. He approached his end of the field to meet his opponent—a short brunette girl with pigtails. The judge went through the rules of the match and immediately allowed the two trainers to start.

"Marowak, I choose you!" Jacob commanded.

"Murkrow, you're up!" The brunette girl cried out, summoning a crow-like pokémon. "Use faint attack!"

"Marowak, get ready to use fire punch…" Jacob said softly to his bone keeper pokémon. Marowak nodded and, just as faint attack landed, marowak socked murkrow in the face with a fistful of fire. The dark type crashed into the ground, but before marowak could land a second punch, it had ascended back into the air.

"Use shadow ball, murkrow!"

"Marowak, block it with bonemerang!" Jacob commanded. Marowak threw its bone through the air and it collided with the shadow ball. Murkrow then summoned multiple shadow balls, all aimed for marowak, who either rolled out of the way or blocked them with its bone or a fire punch. "Great job, marowak! Let's keep this up!"

"Jacob doesn't have any type advantage, but he seems to be doing pretty well," Elliot commented.

"Well Elliot, maybe his marowak is just _that_ good, right?" Niko retorted in a rather sassy tone. Fay shook his head as Cody was about to join in. The former put a hand up to indicate that an argument simply wasn't worth it.

"Marowak, jump into the air and use fire thrash!" Jacob shouted out.

"What's 'fire thrash'? That's not a move," Elliot commented again.

"It's a move Jacob made up. It combines fire punch and thrash," Cody explained. Back on the field, marowak leapt through the air at its opponent, its fists on fire. It continually punched and kicked at murkrow, slamming it into the ground and finishing it off rather quickly.

"Murkrow is unable to battle, marowak wins! The victory goes to Jacob from Viridian City!" The judge declared.

"Yay! We did it, marowak!" Jacob shouted out, embracing his marowak. Suddenly Colton Goodshow's voice came through the speakers around the stadium.

"Well folks, that concludes the first round of the Silver Conference! If you'll take a look at the screen, you'll see the match-ups for the second round, which will commence tomorrow morning at 8am!" Goodshow announced as all heads turned to the mega-screen, which would display the next round of battles.

Once again, Niko didn't recognize his opponent. As it turned out, none of his friends recognized theirs either. Niko was the fourth round of eight in one of the smaller stadiums, same one as Elliot and Jacob, who were sixth and second respectively. Cody was in the main stadium, and the first match. Fay was in another smaller stadium, and was the last match this time. The group decided to head off to grab dinner together before hanging out in the group's suite for a couple of hours and heading to bed afterwards.


	51. Episode 51: Volcanic evolution!

**Author's Note: This was meant to go out yesterday, but I was feeling under the weather (still kind of am) and, as you can see, its kind of a long episode. I fit five 3v3 battles in it, so it was bound to be long. I hope you enjoy! (Fun fact: in terms of word count, this is my longest episode of the entire series! Whew!)**

* * *

 **Episode 51: Volcanic evolution!**

"Thanks Mom, Dad!" Niko said as he took the bag from his parents. They had stopped by to visit and congratulate him on his first round victory, and that they'd be watching him until the end. Niko waved good-bye and walked back into the room, his friends all eying him.

"What's in the bag?" Brittany asked curiously.

"Oh, my Kanto pokémon!" Niko exclaimed, dropping the contents of the bag onto his bed, next to the brunette and Fay. "I plan on using some of them in the conference, since I don't actually have six pokémon that I caught in Johto."

"Yeah, I did the same," Fay added, pointing to his bag that revealed 11 pokéballs. "It'll be nice to see all of them again."

Niko nodded. Later that evening he walked out onto the balcony and summoned the five pokémon he hadn't seen in a while. Pidgeot, kadabra, ivysaur, hitmonchan, and shellder all popped out of their pokéballs and greeted him cheerfully.

"Hey guys! It's been a while. Hope you've all been good while I've been away," they all nodded, albeit looking slightly suspicious. Niko ignored that as he continued. "So I want to use all of you in the Silver Conference, and I think you'd like to be back in the game, right?" They all nodded again. "Great! Well, I don't know what else to say. I just wanted to see you all again before we start battling tomorrow," he turned to ivysaur with a particular fondness. Of all his pokémon, he missed his first one the most. Ivysaur noticed this and nodded with a determined expression. Niko knew it wanted to win just as badly as he did; to redeem itself just as much as Niko wanted to. The brown-haired trainer led his pokémon back inside so that they could all sleep together again as a team.

* * *

The second round of the Silver Conference began the morning following the end of the first round. The group woke up early, rushed over to grab some food, and briefly met Jacob and Cody, who were battling second and first in separate stadiums. Unsure of who to watch, the group split up, with Niko and Fay going to watch Jacob and Brittany and JJ going to watch Cody's match. Maizie tagged along with JJ, obviously, and Elliot went with Fay and Niko, since he was battling in the same stadium as Jacob and Niko.

In the main stadium, Cody met his opponent on the field as they walked in—a short, portly man with jet-black hair. The judge explained the rules for the match—same as the previous round, only with more pokémon and the ability to substitute freely. Immediately after, Cody and the portly man—Caleb—summoned their pokémon.

"Steelix, you're up!"

"Bayleef, I choose you!"

"Hmm. Steelix, use iron tail!" Cody commanded. Bayleef dodged the move and unleashed a stream of sharp leaves from atop its head, which successfully hit the iron snake, who retaliated with a rock slide that bayleef was also able to dodge. Cody seemed to remain calm, at least from Brittany and JJ's perspective.

"Bayleef use solarbeam!" Caleb, feeling confident, commanded his leaf pokémon to use its most powerful move. However, it took time to charge up, and Cody saw his chance.

"Steelix use earthquake!" Cody shouted out. The aggressive ground type move knocked bayleef off balance, which caused the solarbeam to misfire, allowing Cody yet another chance. "Now use rock slide!"

Steelix then conjured multiple rocks and hurled them at its opponent, knocking it back over and defeating it.

"Bayleef is unable to battle, steelix wins!" The judge declared.

"Bayleef return!" Caleb commanded, smirking a little. "Croconaw, let's go! Use water gun!"

"Steelix, iron tail!" Cody shouted out. The steel type slammed its heavy tail onto the already shaken up battlefield. However, the burst of water hit it square in the face, causing it to reel back a little. "It's alright steelix, you got this! Use earthquake!"

"Croconaw, hydro pump!" Caleb commanded. The big jaw pokémon unleashed another burst of water, this time far more powerful, at the iron snake, quickly defeating it as well.

"Steelix is unable to battle, croconaw wins!" The judge declared.

"Good job, steelix. Electrode, you're up!" Cody yelled out, summoning a large white and red ball. "Use sonicboom!"

Electrode spun around rapidly, generating sonic energy that it released in wave form. The wave slammed into croconaw and knocked it backwards, off of its feet. Cody then saw an opening in which to attack.

"Electrode, use thunder!"

The ball pokémon spun around yet again, generating a large amount of electricity that it later shot at croconaw, who barely dodged the attack by rolling out of the way. That's when Cody got an idea.

With a plain expression, "electrode, use explosion!"

The electric type rolled towards croconaw with surprisingly fast speed, glowing bright white as it did so, and exploded, launching the big jaw pokémon into the wall behind Caleb, easily knocking it out.

"Electrode and croconaw are both unable to battle! Caleb and Cody will send out their final pokémon!" The judge declared.

"Wow…Cody is really willing to go all out, isn't he?" Maizie commented. JJ nodded.

"Hopefully Niko or Fay don't have to face that. Not sure any of their pokémon could withstand an explosion like that."

"Donphan, let's go!"

"Quilava, I choose you!" Caleb shouted. "Use mud slap!"

"Donphan, rollout!" Cody ordered, throwing out a hand as a gesture. The armor pokémon rushed forward, rolling towards it opponent at a high speed. Quilava managed to dodge the first attempt at rollout, choosing to not use its move. However, donphan turned back around and rolled towards quilava again, this time much faster. The volcano pokémon took the hit this time. And again. And again.

"Quilava, use flamethrower!" A rather desperate Caleb commanded. Quilava belted out a powerful stream of fire that didn't seem to faze donphan much, as the ground type continued rolling forward, gaining speed.

"Now donphan, use body slam!" Cody shouted out, realizing that this might be the finishing move. The armor pokémon, now moving at a breathtaking pace, leapt into the air and slammed onto quilava, without a doubt defeating it.

"Quilava is unable to battle, donphan wins! The victory goes to Cody from Viridian City!" The judge declared.

"Great job, donphan!" Cody said cheerfully as he returned donphan before walking back into the stands to meet up with his friends, all of whom were already leaving. "The other guys are in the smaller stadiums, right?" JJ nodded. "Cool, let's go check them out?"

They made it just as Jacob's match was set to begin. He was already on the field with his opponent. The judge had just finished explaining the rules of the match and allowed the two trainers to begin.

"Politoed, you're up!" Jacob commanded.

"Aipom, let's go!" The opponent, Roxy, shouted. "Use fury swipes!"

"Politoed, whirlpool!" Jacob said. The frog pokémon conjured a swirling pool of water directly in front of itself as aipom leapt at it. The long tail pokémon quickly got sucked into the water move, spinning around rapidly as it was subsequently tossed back onto the field. "Now use doubleslap!"

"Aipom, fury swipes!" Roxy commanded. The two pokémon then went at it, swiping and slapping one another without any indication of giving up.

"Politoed, use ice punch!" Jacob ordered. The water type's fist froze up as it punched the magenta-colored monkey. Aipom fell backwards, collapsing onto the ground.

"Aipom is unable to battle, politoed wins!" The judge declared.

"Sunflora, I choose you!"

"Nope," Jacob said curtly, "Politoed, return. Skarmory, I choose you!"

"So," the announcer said, "Jacob has returned his politoed in exchange for a skarmory. Guess he is just trying to gain the upper hand here!"

"What's that pokémon?" JJ asked, pulling out his pokédex:

" _Sunflora, the sun pokémon. Grass type. As the hot season approaches, the petals on this pokémon's face become more vivid and lively_."

"Skarmory, use drill peck!" Jacob commanded.

"Sunflora, use sunny day!" Roxy shouted out. Sunflora raised its petal-arms to the sky, brightening up the stadium even more than it already was. "Now, use solarbeam!"

Before sunflora could unleash its attack, it was struck by skarmory's drill peck, which knocked the sun pokémon several yards backwards, and defeated it in a single hit.

"Wow! Look at the power of that skarmory!" The announcer said. "Jacob certainly has the upper hand here—he hasn't lost a single pokémon yet!"

"Sunflora is unable to battle, skarmory wins! Roxy will send out her final pokémon!" The judge declared.

"Charmeleon, I choose you!" Roxy shouted, summoning the lizard pokémon. "Use fire blast!"

Charmeleon, with the power of sunny day, belted out a five-pointed burst of fire that slammed into an unsuspecting skarmory, knocking it to the ground.

"Now, finish it off with flamethrower!" Roxy shouted.

"Skarmory, dodge and use steel wing!" Jacob commanded. It was too late, though: the flamethrower hit skarmory as it was getting off the ground, knocking it back down a second time and defeating it.

"Skarmory is unable to battle, charmeleon wins! Jacob will send out his next pokémon!" The judge declared.

"Politoed, I choose you!" Jacob commanded. "Use whirlpool!"

"Charmeleon, flamethrower!" Roxy shouted. The burst of fire hit as politoed was conjuring a whirlpool in the air, read to toss at the lizard pokémon. However, the fire hit the water, resulting in a cloud of steam.

"Politoed, run through and use doubleslap!" Jacob commanded plainly. The frog pokémon rushed through the steam cloud and showed up in front of charmeleon, slapping it incessantly. The fire type ultimately retaliated with a fire punch, but politoed returned it with an ice punch of its own. The two continued to punch and slap until both were exhausted.

"Charmeleon, fire blast!" Roxy shouted just as the sunny day was ending.

"Politoed, use whirlpool!" Jacob commanded. The swirling pool of water appeared around charmeleon and politoed. Both got sucked into the attack, but only politoed could escape. Charmeleon was thrown out of the whirlpool and hit the side wall of the battlefield, defeated.

"Charmeleon is unable to battle, politoed wins! The victory goes to Jacob of Viridian City!" The judge declared.

"We did it, politoed!" Jacob shouted, high-fiving his pokémon as they ran off to meet with their friends. Niko was the first to greet him, as he was waiting for his match to start two battles after Jacob's.

"Nice job out there, man," Niko said, patting Jacob's shoulder.

"Thanks, and good luck to you, too!" Jacob said, smiling. "I'll see you back in the stands!"

"Will do. See ya!" Niko said as he turned back to the screen and waited.

It was finally Niko's turn. He stepped onto the field to face his opponent—a young man with electric blue hair. He smirked, as if he was confident that he could win. Niko nodded in return, not letting the smirk get to him. The judge went through the rules of the match quickly and then allowed the two trainers to begin.

"Jumpluff, I choose you!"

"Hitmonchan, you're up!" Niko shouted. He felt like he had the advantage here.

Meanwhile, JJ and Brittany were examining jumpluff on the pokédex:

" _Jumpluff, the cottonweed pokémon. Grass and flying. Even in the fiercest wind, it can control its fluff to make its way to any place in the world it wants_."

"Yeah, niko actually has the advantage here," JJ muttered. "Doesn't seem like it at first, but he does."

"How?" Cody asked. "Hitmonchan is fighting, and jumpluff is flying."

"Hitmonchan knows the elemental punches," JJ answered.

"Use fire punch!" Niko shouted out, not wasting any time at this point. Hitmonchan's fist lit on fire as it surged towards jumpluff, who retaliated with a move called cotton spore. The grass type released small puffs of cotton from its head and arms towards hitmonchan who, when exposed to them, began to slow down significantly.

"Jumpluff use poisonpowder!" The blue-haired boy—Dan—shouted. Jumpluff began to release purple poison when it suddenly felt a fist slam into its face, knocking it back. Hitmonchan was still fast, just not fast enough.

"Follow up with mega punch!" Niko shouted. Hitmonchan turned to Niko, nodded, and rushed forward again, albeit much slower. It slammed its fist into jumpluff, but not before intaking the poisonpowder.

"Jumpluff is unable to battle, hitmonchan wins!" The judge declared.

"Togetic, you're up!"

"Hitmonchan, can you keep going?" Niko asked. The punching pokémon, normally not one to give in easily, turned to its trainer and nodded eagerly. Niko nodded back. "The use thunderpunch!"

"Togetic, use metronome!" Dan commanded, leaving his next move up to chance. Togetic took the thunderpunch, but wagged its fingers back and forth as it did so. It them conjured a gift out of nowhere and threw it at hitmonchan. The gift exploded in the fighting type's face, knocking it several feet backwards. The poison also began to deal damage to hitmonchan, albeit slowly.

"Hitmonchan, don't give up! You can do it! Use thunderpunch!"

Hitmonchan cried out as it got back up and ran at togetic, its fist sparking with electricity. Togetic's wings began to glow, and it used a move Niko was not completely familiar with. Togetic then tackled hitmonchan, its wings slamming into its side. Both pokémon fell to the ground, seemingly injured from the two attacks. However, hitmonchan was far more damaged due to the poisonpowder.

Togetic got back up and used metronome. It resulted it in steel wing. The happiness pokémon turned around and struck hitmonchan in the back with the move. Hitmonchan collapsed face-forward, unable to get back up.

"Hitmonchan is unable to battle, togetic wins!" The judge declared.

"Shellder, you're up!" Niko commanded. "Use aurora beam!"

"Togetic, dodge and use double-edge!" Dan told his normal type. Togetic agilely dodged the rainbow beam and slammed into shellder, who had quickly withdrawn and took minimal damaged as a result.

"Shellder, now use clamp!" Niko shouted. Shellder opened its shell once more and clamped onto togetic's wing, refusing to let go. "Now use aurora beam!"

The bivalve pokémon released a rainbow beam of energy, creating an explosion that launched both pokémon backwards. Togetic continued to roll through the battlefield, kicking up dust. Once it reached its trainer, it was finished.

"Togetic is unable to battle, shellder wins!" The judge declared.

"Slowking, you're up!" Dan commanded, albeit a little angrily. "Use psychic!"

"Shellder, withdraw!" Niko shouted. The water type withdrew into its shell as it was picked up and tossed around the battlefield again and again, taking minimal damage. Once slowking released the bivalve pokémon, Niko ordered it to use an aurora beam. Shellder obliged, but the attack did little. "Hmm…guess slowking isn't just psychic type I guess."

" _Slowking, the royal pokémon. Water and psychic. Every time it yawns, shellder injects more poison into it. The poison makes it more intelligent_."

"What an odd pokémon. Guess it's kinda funny how these two are now battling each other," JJ commented as he read slowking's entry. "But Niko might have to rely on his last pokémon to beat this thing."

"Shellder, use aurora beam again!" Niko shouted out. He had faith that shellder could win. He just needed to figure out how exactly to do that.

"Slowking, use psychic!" Dan commanded, now frustrated. Slowking obliged, picking shellder up with its mind and tossing it around mercilessly. The bivalve pokémon was unable to take much more it seemed. Dan smirked. He had the perfect move in mind now.

"Slowking, use zap cannon!" He shouted. Niko gasped. There was no way a water type could learn that move. But it did, and it seemed to have enough control over it to use it well enough. The attack hit shellder directly, knocking it out immediately.

"Shellder is unable to battle, slowking wins!" The judge declared.

"Gah…" Niko muttered, "well, let's give it our best shot. Yanma, I choose you!"

"What is he doing!?" Elliot said in disbelief. "He just witnessed zap cannon. That slowking is powerful."

"Niko might have some motive behind this. Also, zap cannon is very inaccurate. He has been trying to teach that to magneton for a while now," Fay said, reassuring Elliot and defending Niko.

"Yanma, use double team!" Niko commanded. He knew one hit from that zap cannon and he was finished. But he had two advantages as well: zap cannon was inaccurate, and yanma was very fast. The clear wing pokémon multiplied itself a dozen times, all ready for the next command. "Use sonicboom!"

Each yanma copy conjured waves of sonic energy and unleashed them at slowking, who clearly did not suspect a thing. Then the real yanma descended towards slowking, landing a successful quick attack on its back, knocking the royal pokémon forwards.

"Great job, yanma!" Niko yelled, pumping his fist in excitement. The bug type turned to its trainer and nodded.

"Slowking, use psychic!"

"Yanma, double team again!" Niko shouted. The psychic would only work on one pokémon—not twelve. Niko was correct in this assumption as slowking looked confused—which yanma would it attack?

"Slowking! Just attack any of them!" Dan shouted furiously. The royal pokémon obliged—but it attacked a copy. "Dammit! Slowking get it right!"

Slowking furiously attacked each yanma, getting them wrong. Meanwhile, the real one was hovering behind Dan, ready to strike slowking whenever.

"Now yanma! Wing attack!" Niko commanded. He had been waiting for this moment. On their way to Mt. Silver he had been trying to teach yanma the move. It wasn't until that very morning when he asked pidgeot to show yanma how it was done. He didn't expect the clear wing pokémon to be a quick learner—he hadn't taught yanma any moves before—but was happy nonetheless as yanma delivered the finishing move to slowking.

"Slowking is unable to battle, yanma wins! The victory goes to Niko from Pallet Town!" The judge declared.

"Yanma! We did it!" Niko shouted happily, embracing the bug type for what may have been the first time. "I'm really proud of you, buddy."

The two walked back into the stands, congratulated by their friends as Elliot moved to go to the battlefield: he was next.

One round after Niko's, Elliot stood on his end of the field as his opponent—a slim black-haired woman—appeared. The judge then explained the rules of the match to them and allowed them to begin.

"Vileplume, you're up!" The woman—Ellie—commanded.

"Houndoom, I choose you!" Elliot shouted. "Use flamethrower!"

"Vileplume, sludge bomb!" Ellie commanded. The flower pokémon emitted globs of sludge from atop its head, only to be met with a stream of fire, causing the sludge bomb to explode in midair and splatter all over the field. "Use petal dance!"

"Houndoom, faint attack," Elliot said simply. The dark pokémon disappeared quickly and reappeared just as fast, somersaulting through the air and slamming its tail onto vileplume. "Now follow up with flamethrower!"

Houndoom once again unleashed a stream of fire, quickly subduing vileplume. The flower pokémon collapsed onto the ground.

"Vileplume is unable to battle, houndoom wins!" The judge stated.

"Gligar, let's go!"

"Houndoom, return," Elliot said, holding out a pokéball and quickly exchanging it with another. "Poliwrath, you're up!"

"What the heck is that?" Brittany asked, pulling out her own pokédex:

" _Gligar, the fly scorpion pokémon. Ground and flying type. It builds its nest on a steep cliff. When it is done gliding, it hops along the ground back to its nest_."

"That's an odd pokémon…ground and flying?" The brunette said quizzically.

"Gligar, use screech!" Ellie commanded.

"Poliwrath, hydro pump," Elliot said, again in a plain tone. The tadpole pokémon shot a powerful burst of water at its ground type opponent, who took the hit.

"Gligar, get up!" Ellie demanded. "Use guillotine!"

Gligar's claws began to glow white as it rushed towards poliwrath. The tadpole pokémon stood in its place, waiting for gligar to get closed.

"Poliwrath, use cross chop!" Elliot demanded. The water type crossed its arms in an "x" shape and slammed them into gligar when it was within range, rocketing it into the ground. "Now finish it off with hydro pump!" Poliwrath released another jet of water at the fly scorpion pokémon, quickly subduing it as well.

"Gligar is unable to battle, poliwrath wins! Ellie will now send out her final pokémon!" The judge stated.

"Farfetch'd, let's go!" Ellie commanded. "Use agility!"

"Wait for it, poliwrath…" Elliot told his trusty water type. "Just wait…it'll come to you…"

"Farfetch'd, use slash!"

Once the wild duck pokémon was within range, Elliot struck. "Poliwrath, use ice punch!"

Poliwrath's fist froze up as it slammed it down onto the normal type's head, breaking the ground under the wild duck.

"Unbelievable!" The announcer stated while in disbelief. "That poliwrath defeated its opponent in a single attack! Elliot lost no pokémon this entire match!"

"Farfetch'd is unable to battle, poliwrath wins! The victory goes to Elliot from Viridian City!" The judge stated.

"Great job, poliwrath. Return now," Elliot muttered, looking up at a distraught Ellie. He nodded at her with a sympathetic look before turning and leaving the battlefield.

Niko was in shock. That battle ended far quicker than it should have. _Elliot lost no pokémon that entire round. If I want to go far in this tournament, I might have to face him…_ The thought of it worried him a little. He was never able to beat Elliot, and had never faced him in an official battle before. Fay had, and beaten him. But judging from this battle, Elliot had gotten stronger. Much stronger.

Fay was the last of their group to go. He was in another stadium, and was the last match, so everyone went to go and watch his. He was up against an older man—maybe older than any of the other contestants—named Tom. Once the judge had finished explaining the rules, both trainers summoned their first pokémon.

"Gyarados, you're up!"

"Wobbuffet, I choose you!" Tom shouted.

"Gyarados, use dragon rage!" Fay commanded.

"Wobbuffet, use mirror coat," Tom calmly ordered. The patient pokémon began to glow in flashing colors as the purple fire contacted it. However, they simply bounced off the psychic type and shot back at gyarados. The atrocious pokémon—unaware of this—was unable to dodge and got hit square in the face by the attack.

"What the…" Fay mumbled. _This will be difficult for sure…_ "Gyarados, use bite!"

The sea dragon dove downwards at its opponent, mouth wide open. Wobbuffet stood there all the same, waiting for the attack to hit. Gyarados bit down on it, but once it released wobbuffet the patient pokémon leapt up and headbutt the atrocious pokémon powerfully.

"Counter…" Fay muttered to himself. _Of course, this pokémon doesn't have any offensive moves. It waits until its opponent attacks. How to beat that, though…brute force? No. What if I don't use any moves then?_ "Gyarados, wrap your tail around it!"

The sea dragon obliged, gripping wobbuffet and proceeding to squeeze the life out of it. When it didn't seem that was working, gyarados slammed it against the battlefield. Nothing. Wobbuffet wasn't budging and didn't seem fazed by the attacks. Fay gave up on that strategy and insisted on brute force this time.

"Use dragon rage again!" He commanded, but gyarados was met with another mirror coat, which easily dealt the final blow to the atrocious pokémon. Gyarados fell on its back, defeated.

"Gyarados is unable to battle, wobbuffet wins! Fay will send out his second pokémon!"

"Ursaring, let's go!" Fay commanded. _Maybe using attacks that are super effective against it will work?_ "Use faint attack!"

Nodding, the hibernation pokémon disappeared and quickly reappeared behind wobbuffet, slamming into it. Fay noticed how far his normal type had come in learning faint attack, and felt proud when wobbuffet finally seemed damaged by the move.

"Wobbuffet, use counter!" Tom shouted.

"Ursaring, dodge and use slash!" Fay commanded. _Now I have the upper hand here. Ursaring is more agile than gyarados. It can dodge these attacks easily._ Ursaring shift to the left as wobbuffet tried to counter the faint attack, and then brought its claw up to the patient pokémon's face and slashed across, causing the psychic type to reel back a little. "Now use faint attack again!"

"Counter, wobbuffet!" The patient pokémon tried to counterattack, but ursaring disappeared as wobbuffet tried to hit it, reappearing again behind the psychic type and smashing into it. Wobbuffet fell onto its face from the force of the attack.

"Wobbuffet is unable to battle, ursaring wins!" The judge declared.

"Machoke, let's go!" Tom ordered, summoning a fighting type pokémon. "Use karate chop!"

"Ursaring, dodge and use slash!" Fay commanded. The hibernation pokémon seemed to have improved on its dodging abilities, as it was able to evade the chop and uppercut machoke with a slash attack. "Now use faint attack!"

"Machoke, turn around and use cross chop!" Tom, having realized ursaring's strategy in using the dark type move, quickly spun around and slammed its arms into ursaring's neck, sending the normal type skidding across the battlefield. It collapsed on its back, although still able to get back up. "Now finish it off with vital throw!"

Machoke ran up to ursaring and grabbed it by the feet. The superpower pokémon picked ursaring up and spun it around several times before letting go, launching the normal type into the side of the battlefield, directly under some of the spectators. Ursaring left a dent in its shape as it peeled off the wall and fell to the ground.

"Ursaring is unable to battle, machoke wins!" The judge stated.

"Quilava, you're up! Use smokescreen!"

The volcano pokémon burst out of its pokéball, spouting out a thick cloud of smoke. She then rushed through the smokescreen to confuse Tom and machoke, who both seemed to be unfamiliar with this strategy.

"Now quilava! Use flame wheel!" Fay shouted. The volcano pokémon burst out of the cloud and slammed into machoke's back and landed on its four feet. "Now follow up with ember!"

Quilava obeyed, unleashing a series of small fireballs at her fighting type opponent. Machoke raising its large arms to block from the attack, but seemed to get burned all the same. It rushed forward to use cross chop, but quilava dodged and used flame wheel at close range, slamming machoke in the chest and quickly subduing it.

"Machoke is unable to battle, quilava wins! Tom will now send out his final pokémon!"

"Arbok, let's go!" Tom commanded. "Use screech!"

Without warning, the cobra pokémon belted out a powerfully loud cry, causing both Fay and quilava to reel in pain from the attack. Several seconds later, Fay tried to command an attack, but arbok and Tom were quicker—using another screech.

"Quilava!" Fay tried to yell above the screech. "Use flame wheel!"

The volcano pokémon, unable to hear Fay, decided to make a move on her own. She used smokescreen to hide her position—and hopefully help her hear better, although that didn't seem to work. She then repeated the same strategy with machoke on arbok, rushing from a random part of the battlefield at her opponent using flame wheel. She did so, but arbok, with surprisingly fast reflexes, caught the volcano pokémon in midair, halting the flame wheel.

"Quilava!" Fay shouted out when he realized what had happened. He was glad that quilava had acted on her own, since she couldn't hear him anyways. "Use ember!"

Quilava tried to attack, but was being choked by arbok, whose powerful tail was squeezing the life out of the fire type rather quickly.

"Arbok, use acid!" Tom commanded. The cobra pokémon spat acid at quilava, and the volcano pokémon responded with an outcry of pain.

"Quilavaaa!" Fay shouted out as loud as he could. He had no idea what to do. It's as if he needed a miracle to help him.

And a miracle he got. The volcano pokémon began to glow a bright white color, enveloping the stadium. Fay looked in awe as his starter pokémon began to grow twice its size, loosening the grip arbok had on it. The poison type then felt a set of teeth latch onto its tail as it was flung across the battlefield. The white glow disappeared, revealing quilava's final form.

" _Typhlosion, the volcano pokémon. Fire type. When heat from its body causes the air around it to shimmer, this is a sign that it is ready to battle_ ," Brittany's pokédex read as the group and their friends looked in awe at Fay's newest pokémon. True to the entry, typhlosion was surrounded by a shimmering light. Her back then lit on fire, as did quilava's, indicating her willingness to fight.

"Typhlosion!" Fay shouted. "Let's win this battle now! Use flame wheel!"

Typhlosion got down on all fours as she shot like a bullet towards arbok. Her body on fire, the fully evolved fire type slammed into the cobra pokémon with an incredible force, causing arbok to roll across the battlefield. Nearly defeated, it looked up as typhlosion unleashed a stream of fire from its mouth: flamethrower.

"Arbok is unable to battle, typhlosion wins! The victory goes to Fay from Pallet Town!" The judge declared.

"Typhlosion…" Fay muttered as his pokémon walked over to him. "I'm really proud of you. Great job, buddy,"

The two embraced for a moment before walking back to meet the group. Everyone had battled at that point and so, with the round over, the group went to grab lunch before the next round's matches were announced. There was a lot to discuss, since all five trainers had different battles, all successful in their own way.

About an hour later, they all reconvened in the main stadium were Goodshow announced the next match-ups. These were the Top 32 trainers, and Niko in particular was eager to battle. It had been a year since he lost in the Top 32, and was going to win at all costs.

Turns out, he was fighting Jacob in the third round. They were the first match in one of the smaller stadiums. Fay was fighting Cody in the same stadium, two matches later. This would determine Niko's fate in the Silver Conference. Could he prove to himself, his friends, family, and rivals that he was a better trainer than he was a year ago?


	52. Episode 52: The seed pokémon

**Episode 52: The seed pokémon**

"Well, Jacob, this is it," Niko said, turning to his rival-friend.

"Yeah, guess so. Best of luck, mate," Jacob replied, holding out his hand. Niko looked him in the eyes and returned it.

"Same to you," Niko smiled warmly. They both walked to opposite ends of the stadium and met once again on the battlefield, with a judge standing in between them. The rules were the same as the previous round. Moments later, the judge allowed them to send out their pokémon.

"Pidgeot, let's go!" Niko commanded.

"Skarmory, you're up!" Jacob shouted, also summoning a flying pokémon. "Hmm…a pidgeot. Nice choice, Niko. I've never fought a pidgeot before. This should be interesting. Skarmory, use steel wing!"

"Pidgeot, dodge and use sky attack!" Niko commanded. The bird pokémon launched into the sky like a rocket, reaching high enough into the air that even skarmory could hardly see its opponent. Suddenly, the flying type descended back down at an ever-quickening pace. It slammed into skarmory, causing both pokémon to crash into the battlefield below.

"Niko…" Jacob said in awe, "what the hell was that?"

"My pidgeot, that's who!" Niko smirked. "Can you keep up?"

Jacob nodded at the challenge, also smirking. "Challenge accepted! Skarmory, use drill peck!"

"Pidgeot, dodge and use quick attack!" Niko commanded. The two birds continued to exchange blows, wing attack for steel wing, quick attack for drill peck. Neither seemed to give in. Niko certainly didn't use sky attack again. He was reserving that for later.

"Skarmory, use steel wing!" Jacob commanded. The steel type's wings began to glow a light gray color as it rushed towards pidgeot, whose own wings were glowing from its wing attack. The attacks collided, both reeling back from the force of their attacks.

"Pidgeot, return," Niko said, substituting his flying type. "You've done well, but I want to save you for later. Hitmonchan, let's go!"

"Oh, Niko," Jacob teased. "You know Elliot would scold you for doing this, right?"

Niko chuckled under his breath. "Fully aware. But I'm not reckless enough to do this without a plan in mind."

"Wouldn't expect anything different. Skarmory, use drill peck!"

"Wait for it, hitmonchan…" Niko muttered. The punching pokémon nodded, focusing on its opponent. Seconds later, skarmory was upon them, and the two struck. "Hitmonchan, thunderpunch!"

Hitmonchan's fist generated electricity as it collided with skarmory's beak. The resulting explosion from the combined force of the two attacks launched both skarmory and hitmonchan backwards., both pokémon falling on their backs.

"Hitmonchan, you can get up, let's go!" Niko said. He had a good feeling about his chances here, and didn't want to pass up the opportunity to win. "Use fire punch!"

"Skarmory, get up and use steel wing!" Jacob commanded. The armor bird rushed forward as well. The two pokémon collided once more, only hitmonchan was able to land an attack—a fiery fist that smacked skarmory in the face once more, causing it to crash down onto the ground.

"Skarmory is unable to battle, hitmonchan wins! Jacob will use his second pokémon!"

"Politoed, let's go!" Jacob commanded. "Use whirlpool!"

"Hitmonchan, dodge the move and use thunderpunch!" Niko commanded. However, the punching pokémon couldn't escape the swirling pool of water arising underneath it. Hitmonchan quickly got caught up in the whirlpool, spinning around violently. "Use thunderpunch!" Niko shouted.

The fighting type electrified its fist and slammed it against the wall of the whirlpool. The water and electricity reacted, creating an explosion that sent hitmonchan hurtling high into the air. Niko commanded it to use thunderpunch on politoed, who was directly below, but the frog pokémon got out of the way, allowing for hitmonchan to collide with the ground.

"Politoed, use doubleslap!" Jacob commanded. The water type waddled over and slapped the punching pokémon, who was laying on the ground trying to get back on its feet. In retaliation, hitmonchan's boxing glove began to glow white, and it tried to use mega punch, but politoed dodged and used ice punch, slamming it into the fighting type, knocking it onto its back.

"Hitmonchan is unable to battle, politoed wins! Niko will send out his next pokémon!" The judge stated.

"Pidgeot, let's go!" Niko commanded. "Use wing attack!"

"Politoed, ice punch at the ready," Jacob muttered to his pokémon. Politoed nodded, and as pidgeot was about to approach, the frog pokémon's fist froze up and it was about to strike. However, the bird pokémon cancelled its attack at the last minute, instead halting itself low enough to the ground to use sand attack. Politoed threw its hands in front of its eyes to protect from the sudden wave of dirt aimed at its face.

"Pidgeot, use wing attack!" Niko commanded. At close range, the flying type slammed into politoed with its wings glowing, dragging the water type along the ground. "Now use quick attack!" Pidgeot then sped up its attack, launching forward, only a foot or so parallel to the ground, dragging its opponent along with it. They both slammed into the wall, with pidgeot flying back out of the crash, ready to continue the fight.

Politoed crawled out of the indent it made in the wall and looked up at pidgeot. Its fist froze again, and with incredible leg strength, it leapt into the air at its opponent. Pidgeot dodged the move, choosing to shoot high into the air.

"Pidgeot, use sky attack!" Niko shouted, raising his hand high into the air.

The bird pokémon descended almost as quickly as it ascended, crashing into politoed as it was using ice punch. However, the force of the sky attack overpowered ice punch, and thus dealing more damage to politoed.

"Politoed is unable to battle, pidgeot wins! Jacob will send out his second pokémon!" The judge declared.

"Politoed return. You did great. Marowak, you're up!"

"Pidgeot, be careful. This marowak is pretty tough," Niko cautioned his trusty flying type. Pidgeot nodded without looking back at its trainer. "Now, use wing attack!"

"Marowak, fire punch!" Jacob commanded. Like with skarmory and hitmonchan, the two pokémon rushed at each other, wing meeting fist. The pokémon collided with each other, only pidgeot seemed to have taken more damage, as this was now the third pokémon it had faced off against, and was understandably exhausted. Marowak then turned around and used thrash on its opponent, kicking and punching a tired pidgeot.

"Pidgeot, use sky attack!" Niko commanded.

"Marowak don't let it get away! Use fire thrash!" Jacob shouted.

Before pidgeot was about to take off, marowak grabbed onto its talon and slammed it back into the ground. Its fist and bone on fire, it thrashed at pidgeot, beating it up enough to ultimately defeat it.

"Pidgeot is unable to battle, marowak wins! Niko will now send out his final pokémon!" The judge declared.

"Ivysaur, let's go!" Niko shouted. This was it. Him and ivysaur, just as it was before against Fay. Only this time, Niko fully intended on winning. "Use razor leaf!"

"Marowak, fire punch the leaves away!" Jacob commanded. The bone keeper pokémon's bone lit up on fire as it batted the leaves to either side. It then stared down the seed pokémon for a moment, awaiting its trainer's orders.

"Ivysaur, use stun spore!" Niko commanded. The seed pokémon nodded, emitting yellow spores directly at its opponent, who spun its bone to create a counter wind that repelled the spores. "Hmm…alright, then. Ivysaur we're going to have to go in. Run forward and use razor leaf!"

"Marowak, wait…" Jacob said, again waiting for the right moment. "Now! Use fire punch!"

Marowak rushed forward, its fist on fire, and landed a punch on the seed pokémon's head. However, in return ivysaur released a stun spore that temporarily paralyzed the bone keeper pokémon.

"Ivysaur, use razor leaf now!" Niko commanded. The grass type, reeling from the fire punch that hit it atop the head, fought through the pain and released a series of sharp leaves at its opponent, who, although stunned, reeled back as well. Niko smiled. He was doing well.

"Niko, this has been a great match, dude," Jacob shouted across the field. "But we're going to end this, right here, right now. Marowak, use fire thrash!"

Marowak, released from the effects of stun spore, shot forward and thrashed at ivysaur, its limbs and bone on fire. Ivysaur wailed as the fire dealt damage to it. In what seemed to be the final blow, ivysaur was hurtled back several yards. It collapsed onto the ground, exhausted from the beating it just took.

"Ivysaur is unable to battle! Marowak is the—huh?" The judge stopped abruptly as ivysaur got back up.

"Ivy…saur. Ivysaur…" The seed pokémon muttered, its voice cracking a little.

"You can do this buddy. We're not about to give up, right?" Niko stated determinedly. Ivysaur turned to its trainer and nodded. The sun directly above it, the seed pokémon began to glow a light green color. "Synthesis?" Niko asked. He hadn't commanded anything; ivysaur was doing this all on its own.

The grass type shook its head though, confusing its trainer. Niko then saw a bright green ball appear above ivysaur's red-pink bulb.

"What the…" Niko wondered. Suddenly it became clear to him. "Alright, ivysaur, let's do this. Jacob, I hate to break it to ya, but this match is over. IVYSAUR, USE SOLARBEAM!"

Ivysaur screamed out to the heavens as it unleashed a green beam of solar energy directly at marowak, engulfing the bone keeper pokémon. Even Jacob had to sidestep as the solarbeam hit the wall directly behind him. Jacob turned back to see marowak on its back.

"When did ivysaur learn solarbeam…?" Brittany asked. Niko's family all turned to her, smirking.

"That's all Jake," Niko's Dad said proudly, turning to the brown-haired 11-year old. Jake nodded, still fixated on the battle. "He taught ivysaur solarbeam while Niko was away. We chose not to tell Niko this, figuring that ivysaur would use it on its own."

"Wow…that's incredible! Niko is such a lucky guy…" Brittany replied, looking fondly on her friend.

"Marowak is unable to battle, ivysaur is the—oh what now!?" The judge stopped, again abruptly. Ivysaur was glowing bright white. Ivysaur grew several times its size, growing to a height twice its previous height, and a width several times its previous width. Its bulb had now bloomed into a pink, white-spotted flower, supported by a thick brown trunk surrounded by green fronds. All in all, it was a massive pokémon now.

The judge sighed. "Marowak is unable to battle, venusaur is the winner! The victory goes to Niko from Pallet Town!"

Niko wiped away a tear from his eye. He did it. He improved from his previous league performance. That was his goal the whole time, and he managed to do it, and alongside his first pokémon, who was now fully evolved. He approached venusaur, who looked back at Niko with a rather exhausted look.

"Venusaur…" he said, looking at the seed pokémon. "I'm SO proud of you. You did such a great job. I guess…words can't express how I feel right now," Niko then hugged venusaur around the neck.

Jacob approached shortly after. Niko released himself from the seed pokémon to see his rival's hand outreached.

"Good job, dude," Jacob said. Niko returned the handshake, and then embraced Jacob himself.

"Same to you, buddy. Same to you."

They reunited with the group, who were all waiting outside. Brittany was the first to embrace Niko. The brown-haired trainer, shocked from the sudden affection, slowly returned the hug. Fay and JJ both patted him on the back, as did his parents and Jake.

"Thanks everyone. But Jacob really put up a fight there. It was a fun battle."

"Agreed. Maybe my favorite one so far. Thanks again, Niko."

* * *

Fay and Cody's match was the last one of the round, in another stadium. The group all went to watch as the other pair of rivals approached the field. Once again the judge explained the rules and allowed the match to start.

"Kingdra, let's go!"

"Steelix, you're up!" Cody commanded. "Use rock slide!"

"Kingdra, dodge each one and use whirlpool!" Fay commanded. The dragon pokémon shifted around the dozen or so rocks being hurled at it, getting closer still to its opponent. It then conjured a whirlpool around the massive iron snake, engulfing it in the swirling water. Steelix roared as it felt the water touch its steel coat.

"Steelix, spin around and use iron tail!" Cody commanded. The iron snake whipped around, hitting the root of the whirlpool with its iron tail. The water move dissipated, and Cody was ready to follow up. "Use earthquake now!"

"Kingdra, brace yourself!" Fay shouted. "Use dragonbreath!" Once the battlefield stopped shaking, the dragon type released out a yellow-orange flame that hit steelix in the neck. "Now use smokescreen!"

A cloud of thick smoke appeared in the middle of the battlefield. Kingdra disappeared into it, moving along as if it were swimming in water. Steelix used iron tail to blow away the cloud by slamming onto the ground, but by the time it did, it was already too late. Kingdra appeared behind it and used whirlpool under it once more.

"Combine it with twister!" Fay commanded. While the whirlpool was raging around steelix, kingdra added the dragon move to the mix. Steelix tried to use iron tail to whip away the whirlpool, but adding the dragon element to it seemed to only strengthen the whirlpool.

"What? Steelix, use earthquake!" Cody commanded. Kingdra endured the attack and then added dragonbreath to the swirling mix of water and dragon elements. Steelix, now trapped in the attack, was unable to continue fighting. It collapsed forward onto the ground, defeated.

"Steelix is unable to battle, kingdra wins!" The judge stated.

"Steelix, return. Nice job, Fay. Didn't know you could do that,"

"Neither did I, actually!" Fay laughed nervously. "I guess we could call that move 'dragon whirlpool.'"

"I like it! Now, electrode, you're up!" Cody shouted, summoning his explosive electric pokémon. "Use thunder!"

"Kingdra, dodge it!" Fay commanded. "And use dragonbreath!"

"Electrode, use thunder repeatedly!" Cody yelled out. The ball pokémon kept spinning around in place, generating enough electricity to summon multiple thunder attacks in quick succession. Kingdra shifted around the field, dodging all of them and trying to land an attack. After two successive earthquakes, it was slightly exhausted at this point, but carried on, knowing that Fay depended on it to do well. It eventually got close enough that it was able to land a dragonbreath up close. The attack landed, but at a cost: electrode's thunder finally hit.

"Kingdra!" Fay shouted out. "Can you carry on?"

Kingdra turned to its trainer and nodded, albeit weakly. It turned to electrode to use dragonbreath one more time, but the ball pokémon generated a sonicboom that launched kingdra across the field within seconds.

"Kingdra is unable to battle, electrode wins! Fay will send out his second pokémon!" The judge declared.

"Sudowoodo, you're up!" Fay shouted out. "Let's start off with a rock slide!"

"Electrode, use thunder again!" Cody commanded. He knew that sonicboom wouldn't do much against a rock type, so electric moves would just have to do. For now, at least.

The powerful electric attack nearly hit the imitation pokémon, who was able to block it using rock slide. Sudowoodo, seeing an opening, ran forward at its opponent.

"Sudowoodo?" Fay asked, "What are you doing? We need to keep our distance!"

"Sudo! Sudo sudo woodo!" The rock type shouted out, running maniacally at its opponent.

"Heh, alright then. Electrode, use thunder right in front of you!" Cody commanded. Sudowoodo stopped in its tracks to use mimic, hoping for a move that would help it. Smirking a little, it let the thunder hit in front of the ball pokémon. It then proceeded forward again.

"Would you look at that, folks," the announcer began, "Fay's sudowoodo is acting on its own accord! Is it disobeying Fay, or is it actually smarter than it might look?"

Sudowoodo heard that and frowned a little. It briefly looked back at Fay and, for a moment, the trainer thought he saw his pokémon wink at him.

"You used mimic…" Fay realized. He also knew electrode's moveset. _Oh, no…_ "Sudowoodo! Don't do it!"

"Electrode, use thunder!" Cody commanded. The ball pokémon quickly spun around, summoning a powerful bolt of electricity. Sudowoodo stopped as the thunder was being conjured and, with near-precise timing, unleashed a sonicboom that collided with the thunder as it was hitting the ground, emulating a small explosion. Sudowoodo lifted its branch-like arms to cover itself as electrode was tossed backwards in the direction of its trainer.

"…wow, sudowoodo," Fay said in awe. "That was incredible!"

The imitation pokémon turned to its trainer and smiled and waved back. It was clearly very proud of itself.

"But watch out!" Fay shouted. Sudowoodo turned around and saw electrode rolling towards it, glowing a bright white color. The rock type turned and sprinted as fast as it could in the opposite direction, only barely missing the worst of the explosion, and hurtling the imitation pokémon across the field.

"Electrode is unable to battle, sudowoodo wins! Cody will send out his final pokémon!" The judge declared.

"Donphan, let's go!" Cody commanded. "Use earthquake!"

"Sudowoodo, surround yourself in rock slide!" Fay commanded, hoping that the rocks would help buffer the impact. It didn't really, but sudowoodo did minimize some of the damage. "Alright, now use sonicboom!"

The rock type generated another wave of sonic energy that it shot at donphan, which hit the armor pokémon in the face, but hardly seemed to do any damage. Fay realized that it would have to attack donphan head on.

"Alright, sudowoodo, let's go. Use low kick!"

"Donphan, earthquake!"

"Brace yourself, sudowoodo. You can do this!" Fay shouted out. The imitation pokémon continued to run forward on the aggressively shaking ground. It managed to land a low kick, but didn't succeed in surviving the attack.

"Sudowoodo is unable to battle donphan wins! Fay will now send out his third pokémon!" The judge declared.

"Return, sudowoodo. You exceeded my expectations. Typhlosion, I choose you!"

"What…?" JJ asked in shock.

"I wonder why he's choosing typhlosion, of all pokémon…" Jacob commented.

"I guess he has some sort of trick up his sleeve," Niko added, "he usually does."

Typhlosion turned to Fay and gave him a thumbs up indicating that they would win this. Donphan began with an earthquake, which knocked the volcano pokémon off balance, but oddly enough didn't seem to faze her much, at least on the surface.

"Donphan, use rollout!" Cody commanded. The armor pokémon leapt into the air, curled up into a ball, and rolled forward at its opponent.

"Typhlosion, use smokescreen!" Fay commanded, looking to block the attack, which halted donphan in its tracks, as it couldn't seem to see.

"Donphan, just use rollout to clear the smoke!" Cody yelled desperately. He didn't want to underestimate Fay. Not now. The ground type curled back up and rolled randomly around in the smoke cloud, intending on breaking it up as much as it could. It succeeded in doing so, but didn't noticed typhlosion until it was too late. The volcano pokémon rammed into donphan's side—where there was less armor covering it—with flame wheel. Donphan fell over, and typhlosion emitted a stream of fire at its underbelly.

"Typhlosion! Finish it off with flame wheel!" Fay yelled out. However, it wasn't exactly the "finishing move," as donphan was still able to get back on its feet and slam into typhlosion with a rollout or two. The volcano pokémon took a few steps back, distancing itself from donphan.

"This is it, Fay," Cody yelled out. "It's you or me now. You ready?"

Fay raised an eyebrow. "Of course, Cody. I'm always ready. Typhlosion, use flame wheel!"

"Donphan, earthquake!"

"You can do this, typhlosion! Endure the pain! Break through the wall!"

The volcano pokémon's body was exploding in flames as it ran on all fours towards donphan, strategically using the shaking ground as a way to build its momentum. It then rammed headfirst into donphan, pushing it backwards several feet. The force of the flame wheel seemed to have some effect, since when the dust cleared up, typhlosion was still able to get up, but donphan was not.

"Donphan is unable to battle, typhlosion wins! The victory goes to Fay from Pallet Town!" The judge declared.

"Yeah!" Fay said, pumping a fist into the air. "We did it, typhlosion!" The volcano pokémon wobbled over to its trainer, absolutely exhausted, and embraced him. "You did great. I'm _really_ proud of you."

Back at the entrance to the battlefield, Fay's friends awaited him and Cody as they walked off the field. Brittany ran to hug Fay, while Niko, Elliot, JJ, and Jacob all went to congratulate him and Cody on a hard-fought battle.

"I don't know if you could hear it," Niko began, "but the announcer was losing his damn mind!"

"Heh, I heard bits and pieces. I was just too focused on the battle. Cody," Fay turned to his fellow black-haired trainer. "Good job, man. That was a tough match."

Cody shook his rival's hand. "Yeah, it was. I'm happy with it. A great way to go out, I think. I'd rather lose to you than some stranger."

Fay nodded, laughing with a slight hint of nervousness in his voice. The day now over, the group went to grab dinner in the dining hall before Goodshow announced the matches for the following morning. During dinner, they talked extensively about the battles they saw, and the ups and downs of the two rounds that were underway that day.

"Welcome ladies and gentlemen!" Colton Goodshow announced on the loudspeaker. "First of all, congratulations to everyone who battled in the two rounds today. We saw some incredible trainers and pokémon perform today!

"But now, we will be announcing the matches for the Top 16. Remember, these are full 6-on-6 battles, and will begin at 10am tomorrow morning. There will be two battles in each stadium, and then after a lunch break, we will finish with the Top 8 quarterfinals matches, which will be held in this main stadium. Now, without further ado…"

The 16 faces—including Niko's, Fay's, and Elliot's—all spun around until they were matched up. Everyone in the group looked around anxiously. They all seemed fixated on two faces placed right next to each other, and Elliot's off to the side.

Niko and Fay would be the second match in the main stadium.


	53. Episode 53: A tale of two trainers

**Episode 53: A tale of two trainers**

 _"_ _Morning, class! We have a new student here today. Would you like to introduce yourself?" A middle-aged, balding man asked the small brown-haired boy after addressing his class._

 _"_ _My name is Niko, and I'm from Vermilion City," Niko said rather shyly._

 _"_ _Hi Niko!" The rest of the class said in unison. The teacher pointed to an empty seat in the middle of the classroom, next to a short black-haired boy who looked like he was about to fall asleep. Niko shuffled over and sat at his new desk, afraid to look at anyone out of fear that everyone was staring back at him._

 _Turns out they weren't, and continued with their lesson that day. As the children were getting up to head home, the black-haired boy turned to Niko._

 _"_ _Hi, my name's Fay!" He said happily, holding out his hand. Niko hesitated for a moment, but took it._

 _"_ _Hi Fay. I'm Niko."_

 _"_ _We all know that! The teacher introduced you!"_

 _"_ _Oh…yeah…haha…" Niko said nervously. "Anyways, see you tomorrow!"_

 _"_ _See you!" Fay shouted as Niko left the classroom_.

Several years later…

"This will be a full pokémon battle between Niko and Fay of Pallet Town. The match will end when one trainer has no pokémon left to use. Substitutions are allowed. Are we clear?"

"Yes," Niko and Fay said together.

"Very well. You may begin," The judge declared.

"Delibird, you're up!"

"Primeape, I choose you!"

* * *

The evening before, Niko and Fay discovered that they would be facing off against one another in a full 6-on-6 match in the Silver Conference. After seeing this, both went their separate ways for an hour or so to figure out a strategy. After travelling through two regions, attaining 16 badges together, and competing in two leagues, they understood each other's moves, pokémon, and strategies better than anyone else. For the two of them, it may have been the highest stakes match of their careers as pokémon trainers.

Fay sat down on the balcony overlooking the front lawn of the main stadium. Charizard—his first ever pokémon—was sitting with him. He knew he would use the fire type, without a doubt.

"We're battling Niko tomorrow, charizard," Fay said without looking at the flame pokémon. "You ready for that?"

Charizard nodded, also looking out onto the lawn.

"I'm not sure what to think, I guess. I mean, this is a big deal. I know it is for Niko, since I was the one that beat him last time, and it threw him for a loop. But at the same time, I'm not too concerned about this. I want to do my best—and I want you to do yours—but I'm not afraid of losing. Back when I faced James, I was afraid of losing. It was the Top 8—remember?—and we were so close to going all the way, and we fell short. Now, I'm not scared. I want to beat Niko again, in a full, official battle. But if it doesn't go that way, I guess I'm fine with that. Are you?"

Charizard, who more than any of Fay's pokémon embodied his feelings and emotions, also nodded. The two looked at each other for a moment before heading back into the room.

Meanwhile, Niko was out on the front lawn with venusaur and some of his other pokémon, but the seed pokémon was sitting closest to its trainer.

"Tomorrow we're battling Fay," Niko finally said. Venusaur turned to Niko, as if knowing where its trainer was going with this. "And I want to win. I hope you do, too."

Venusaur nodded. Magneton, who was floating a few feet away, buzzed softly in agreement.

"But I don't want to beat him for the sake of winning, or for revenge for him defeating me last year. That seems petty, and I don't want to be that kind of person," Niko said, looking at the ground. "I want to win to prove to myself, and to all of you, that I'm a better trainer.

"With that said, if I'm going to lose to anyone, I want it to be Fay. He's a far more talented trainer than I am, you've all seen it. He's won every gym match, and only lost one official battle, at the Indigo League. He won't be easy to beat, so if you guys want this too, then you're going to have to give it your all. I know that I will."

Once again venusaur nodded. It knew how high the stakes were for its trainer. And the seed pokémon, much like charizard, understood its trainer better than any of Niko's other pokémon, except possibly magneton.

* * *

Brittany and JJ were sitting with their friends Maizie, Cody and Jacob in the lounge in the main stadium. They wanted to give Niko and Fay some time to think about their match tomorrow.

"This is a big deal, isn't it?" Jacob finally asked. "Those two battling…it's big, right?"

"Yeah," JJ replied.

"Think about it, though," Brittany added, "They've been friends for ages, have travelled two regions together, both competing in the same gyms, same leagues, same everything! When they battled last year, it was big, but this year is different. Not only is it a full battle, but there's something else that, well, makes this all a 'big deal.'"

"They've changed a lot, too," JJ observed. "After that battle with Clair…you could see it."

Brittany nodded. "Niko is more confident now. Last year he was nervous about his battle with Fay. And when he lost…he was distraught. Downright depressed. Fay, on the other hand, seems more sure of himself, if that's possible. He seems more focused, too."

"I see," Jacob said, nodding slowly while staring at the ground. "From what I've seen, they're kind of like two sides of the same coin."

"They're like…rivals, I guess," JJ added, unsure of himself. "It's weird to call them rivals, because they hardly seem like it. But I guess you're right. Fay has been a great trainer almost from the start. Niko has had to work his way up, and has had several obstacles in his way. That's not to say Fay hasn't tried. He's trained harder than any trainer I've ever seen. But he has some sort of natural ability to train and discipline his pokémon while still being their best friend."

"Niko is slowly becoming more like that, too," Brittany said, turning to JJ. "It's going to be an interesting match, for sure."

They all nodded as Niko entered the lounge alone, pokéballs in hand.

* * *

"Delibird, use present!" Niko commanded, sounding off the first move of the match. The delivery pokémon excitedly ran at its opponent, lobbing exploding gifts everywhere. He purposely wanted delibird to have the league experience, despite being his least trained pokémon.

"Primeape, dodge the presents and use mega punch!" Fay shouted. The pig monkey pokémon also ran forward, skillfully dodging each of the small explosions and landing a glowing white punch on the ice type, launching it across the field.

"Hey, delibird," Niko said, crouching down to see his pokémon. "Are you alright?"

Delibird straightened back up and nodded determinedly. Niko nodded in response and let it get back to business. Previously, the delivery pokémon had been training with Niko on how to protect itself. Since delibird learned only one move naturally, this proved to be far more difficult than Niko anticipated. Nevertheless, the delivery pokémon was eagerly about learning and battling, and so the brown-haired trainer could find a balance when it came to training his newest pokémon.

"Primeape, use cross chop!" Fay shouted. The fighting type ran towards delibird again, who was tempted to use present, but awaited Niko's command.

"Delibird, use protect!" Niko ordered. The delivery pokémon held its hands out in front of it, dropping the sack of presents and creating a forcefield around it. Primeape bounced off it and landed back on its two feet, ready to use another move.

"Primeape, mega punch!"

"Delibird, present!"

The ice type tossed out another series of gifts at primeape, who punched them away and landed yet another successful mega punch, this time finishing off delibird.

"Delibird is unable to battle, primeape wins! Niko will send out his second pokémon!"

"Kadabra, you're up!" Niko shouted.

"Primeape, let's stay at it," Fay said, knowing full well that it might not end the way he wanted it to. "Use mega punch!"

"Kadabra, teleport!" The psi pokémon disappeared as primeape was about to land its punch, only to reappear behind the pig monkey. "Now use psybeam!"

"Primeape, mega punch the psybeam!" Fay commanded. It turned around and slammed its fist into the psychic energy beam. The two sat at a stalemate for several moments before kadabra teleported once more, this time only a few feet behind where it was previously, and used confusion this time.

Kadabra lifted primeape into the air and tossed it around a few times. It then teleported once more next to primeape and landed a psybeam that knocked the pig monkey off its feet and onto the ground.

The two stared at each other a moment. It was clear that kadabra had the upper hand here: primeape couldn't use any moves, as they were all physical, while all of kadabra's were not. The psi pokémon could attack from a distance; primeape could not.

"Kadabra, finish it off with psybeam!" Niko finally commanded. The psi pokémon generated a focused beam of psychic energy at primeape, quickly defeating it.

"Primeape is unable to battle, kadabra wins! Fay will send out his second pokémon!" The judge declared.

"Ursaring, you're up!" Fay said, summoning the hibernation pokémon. "Use faint attack!"

"Kadabra, you won't be able to dodge this. Just endure the attack as best you can, and use confusion right after, okay?" Niko cautioned. Kadabra turned to its trainer and nodded as it took the faint attack. Reeling a little, kadabra then picked up ursaring with its mind and tossed it around. "Now use psybeam!" Niko commanded.

"Ursaring, faint attack!" Fay shouted.

"Kadabra, teleport repeatedly!" Niko responded. The two pokémon kept appearing and disappearing all around the battlefield. Both were surprisingly fast pokémon that could keep up with one another. Niko was hoping that by teleporting constantly, it could wear ursaring out, since it would continue to shift around the map until it landed the attack.

Eventually ursaring landed its attack, slashing at kadabra with its mighty claw. The psi pokémon rolled back through the battlefield, but got back up nonetheless.

"Ursaring, finish it off with faint attack!"

"Kadabra, confusion!" Niko shouted. Before the normal type could use its attack, kadabra struck, picking up and tossing ursaring to the side of the battlefield before using one final psybeam. Then the bear pokémon struck, easily defeating kadabra.

"Kadabra is unable to battle, ursaring wins! Niko will send out his third pokémon!" The judge declared.

"Feraligatr, you're up!" Niko commanded.

"Ursaring, use faint attack!" Fay shouted. As ursaring reappeared, ready to strike feraligatr, it got hit in the face with a nasty ice punch, sending it slamming into the ground.

"Feraligatr, use whirlpool!" Niko ordered. The big jaw pokémon constructed a pool of water under ursaring and began to spin it around, wrapping the hibernation pokémon in it. Ursaring spun around at a frightening speed, eventually finding itself launched into the side of the battlefield once more. "Now, finish it off with ice punch!"

The water type roared out as it slammed its fist into ursaring's stomach. Before it fainted, however, ursaring slashed at feraligatr's face.

"Ursaring is unable to battle, feraligatr wins! Fay will send out his third pokémon!"

"Electabuzz, you're up!" Fay shouted, summoning his electric pokémon.

"Feraligatr, return. We need you for later," Niko said, exchanging pokéballs. "Venusaur, let's go!"

"Interesting choice, Niko!" Fay commented. "I'm enjoying this battle so far. Electabuzz, use thunder!"

"Venusaur, razor leaf!" Niko commanded. The two pokémon exchanged attacks as they got hit at the same time. Niko, aware of venusaur's relative immobility since its evolution, realized that using stun spore would be a difficult move. "Alright venusaur, let's see what Fay does next.

"Electabuzz, use thunderpunch!"

As the electric pokémon ran forward, its fist sparking with electricity, Niko commanded venusaur to use solarbeam. Perhaps Fay was expecting it to take longer than it did, but the powerful grass type attack surrounded electabuzz, knocking it on its back.

"Now use razor leaf!" Niko shouted out. The seed pokémon released dozens of sharp leaves at its opponent, who deflected them with a thunder attack that it conjured quickly. Electabuzz got up, its fist still sparking, and ran at venusaur, who took the opportunity to use yet another razor leaf to bring the electric type down.

"Electabuzz, you're not the type to give up, are you?" Fay shouted out. "Let's use that move you learned! Use skull bash!"

The electric pokémon lowered its head while venusaur was preparing to retaliate with solarbeam. The attack launched as electabuzz struck venusaur in the head. Electabuzz also took the solarbeam, and so while both pokémon were severely damaged from the attack, only electabuzz collapsed from the damage dealt.

"Electabuzz is unable to battle, venusaur wins! Fay will now send out his next pokémon!"

"Charizard, let's go!" Fay commanded, summoning his starter pokémon as well.

* * *

 _"_ _Hey Fay, what do you want to be when you grow up?" Niko asked as the two were sitting in his room playing video games._

 _"_ _I don't know Niko," Fay said, clearly thinking about it. "I think maybe a pokémon trainer. What about you?"_

 _"_ _I want to travel all over the world!" Niko exclaimed, throwing both of his hands into the air. "And I want to meet every pokémon that's ever lived!"_

 _"_ _Wow! Can I come?" Fay asked eagerly._

 _"_ _Sure! We can go on a bunch of adventures together!" Niko replied happily._

 _"_ _Great! We'll be pokémon masters!" Fay said, making a fist and thrusting it in the air. Him and Niko then laughed as they continued playing their game._

Years later…

 _"_ _Niko!" Fay said as he approached his longtime friend. "Did you do the essay on pokémon evolution yet?"_

 _Niko shook his head. "I completely forgot about it. When's it due?"_

 _"_ _Friday. You've got some time. I was just wondering what you planned on writing about."_

 _Niko shrugged. "Haven't thought much about it yet. I was actually looking up things we'll need for when we set out on our journey together."_

 _"_ _Oh? Like what?" Fay asked._

 _"_ _Just stuff we'll need to purchase, like potions and antidotes for the pokémon that we catch. Nothing too complicated."_

 _"_ _Oh, I see. Great, glad that you're getting a head on that! I haven't thought much about it actually. Been thinking too much about this essay."_

 _"_ _I hear ya. Our teacher is a strict grader, that's for sure. Anyways, let's meet up tomorrow and discuss some of the things we'll need to get, alright?"_

 _"_ _Sure! Have we set a date yet for when we want to leave?"_

 _Niko scratched his chin. "No. I mean, I think maybe a couple of weeks after school gets out. It'll be late-august by then, and so we could just leave around then. Sound good?"_

 _"_ _Sounds good to me!" Fay said. "Anyways, I've gotta head home and get started on this essay. See ya!"_

 _"_ _See ya Fay!"_

* * *

"Venusaur, return," Niko said. "Noctowl, you're up!"

"Good choice, Niko!" Fay shouted out. "Your venusaur is tough, but it is at a major disadvantage."

"Not like that's ever stopped _you_ before, Fay," Niko smirked. "Noctowl, use hypnosis!"

"Charizard, close your eyes and use flamethrower!" Fay commanded, knowing better than this. The stream of fire barely missed noctowl, as the owl pokémon shifted slightly to the right. Niko then ordered it to use take down. The attack landed, but charizard hardly seemed fazed by the move, instead grabbing noctowl and flying into the air to use seismic toss.

Noctowl crashed into the ground moments later, struggling to get back up. Niko bit his finger, as was his new habit when he got a little nervous.

"Noctowl, use steel wing!" Niko commanded, having a new strategy in mind. The owl pokémon got close enough for Niko to suddenly cancel the move and switch to hypnosis. Being a fast flyer, noctowl was able to perform this, quickly putting charizard to sleep. "Now, use dream eater!"

Noctowl closed its eyes and stood on the ground, invading the flame pokémon's mind. Charizard began to squirm as its dream was eaten. It suddenly woke up out of anger and belted out a flamethrower in noctowl's direction. The owl pokémon managed to quickly evade, and rushed in for a steel wing.

"Charizard, wing attack!" Fay commanded. The fire type also got into the air and sped at its opponent. Soon enough the two collided, and exchanged places on the field. Turning around, noctowl and charizard faced each other before the former collapsed onto the ground.

"Noctowl is unable to battle, charizard wins!" The judge declared.

"Return, noctowl. Great job," Niko said, pulling out his next pokémon. "Magneton, let's go!"

"Charizard, return as well. Dragonair, you're up!" Fay commanded. "Use dragonbreath!"

"Magneton, sonicboom!" Niko shouted. The two attacks met in the middle of the field and quickly exploded. "Now use thunderbolt!"

"Dragonair, dragonbreath again!" Fay ordered. The electric met the dragon fire and, with another explosion created, both pokémon rushed forward to engage in close combat, realizing this wasn't getting anywhere.

"Magneton, thunderwave!"

"Dragonair, wrap!" Fay commanded. The stunned dragon pokémon managed to tighten its grip on the magnet pokémon before falling to the ground. Magneton struggled to get out of the tight hold dragonair had on it, but as long as it couldn't move, neither could magneton.

"Alright then, magneton, use thunderbolt then!" Niko suggested. The magnet pokémon released electricity from its body, electrifying the dragon pokémon who cried out in pain. Once it was released, dragonair spun around and slammed magneton into the ground with its tail, finally releasing its opponent.

"Dragonair, use dragonbreath up close!" Fay commanded. The yellow-orange fire smacked magneton in the face, causing it to reel back a little before retaliating with a sonicboom. "Now use dragon rage!"

"Magneton, use thunderbolt!" Niko commanded. For what seemed like several minutes, the two pokémon exchanged attacks back and forth, not willing to give any ground to their opponent. Magneton in particular knew the stakes of this match, and was going to do whatever it could to win.

"Dragonair…use dragonbreath again!"

"Magneton," Niko said, closing his eyes. "Zap cannon."

An exhausted magneton stood still for a moment, taking the dragonbreath head on while trying to focus its attack. Dragonair in particular was difficult, since it could slither around relatively smoothly. Regardless, magneton managed to target it and unleashed the zap cannon. It fired off with the sound and force of a rocket, propelling its user backwards and into Niko, knocking them both down. Dragonair, not anticipating the speed of the attack, was also hit, rolling backwards on the field, landing at Fay's feet.

The judge looked curiously at both pokémon, and then made a judgement. "Magneton and dragonair are both unable to battle!"

"So…they're both down to two pokémon left, right?" JJ wondered.

"Looks like it…" Jacob replied. "Both of Niko's have seen battle, and only one of Fay's has, so I guess Fay has the advantage here."

"Go Niko! Go Niko!" Jake began to cheer loudly, throwing his fists into the air.

"Venusaur, you're up!" Niko commanded.

"Kingdra, let's go!" Fay shouted. "Use twister!"

"Venusaur, synthesis!" Niko ordered. The seed pokémon took in energy from the sun as it got caught up in a storm surrounding it, making it difficult to successfully heal. Niko bit his finger again as he tried to figure out how to win this. And it came to him, even though it seemed so simple.

Just go for broke.

"Venusaur, solarbeam!" Niko shouted, pointing at kingdra for emphasis. The large seed pokémon calmed down for a moment to take in more of the sun's energy as kingdra kept pelting it with twisters and dragonbreaths.

"Kingdra, whirlpool!" Fay commanded. The dragon pokémon conjured a spinning wall of water around its opponent. It was effective, but made it slightly more difficult to see the solarbeam coming. "Be careful, kingdra," Fay cautioned, "That solarbeam is strong."

Kingdra nodded, narrowing its eyes to focus specifically on venusaur's flower. The solarbeam finally released, and caught kingdra in it. The dragon pokémon was shot backwards from the force of the concentrated solar energy, but it quickly bounced back and rushed at venusaur, dodging dozens of razor leaves, to land a dragonbreath up close to the seed pokémon.

"Venusaur, stun spore!"

"Kingdra, dragonbreath!"

The two attacks collided, resulting in kingdra paralyzed and venusaur defeated from the onslaught of dragon fire.

"Venusaur is unable to battle, kingdra wins! Niko will send out his final pokémon!" The judge declared, turning to Niko.

"You're all I've got left. Let's finish this. Feraligatr, I choose you!"

"Heh. Looks like a rematch, then?" Fay asked, smirking.

Niko nodded. "Looks like it. And it'll have the same result. Feraligatr, use ice punch!"

"Kingdra, slow it down with dragonbreath!"

The big jaw pokémon rushed forward, its fist frozen as it dodged the streams of yellow-orange fire directed at it. It managed to land the ice punch at the expense of getting caught in a twister, which flung it back across the field. Feraligatr quickly got back up, hardly showing any sign of exhaustion. Kingdra, on the other hand, looked tired. The battle with venusaur deal a number on it.

"Kingdra, let's keep this up. Niko's down to his last pokémon. We can do this! Use whirlpool!"

"Feraligatr, respond with whirlpool, too!" Niko commanded. The two water types conjured whirlpools under each other, reminding both trainers of the time they taught this move to their pokémon when they were in their basic forms—horsea and totodile. Now was the chance to prove which one was more powerful.

Both pokémon were quickly engulfed in the whirlpools, resisting them the best they could. Feraligatr even tried to escape the whirlpool, but was instead launched out of it, landing against the same wall ursaring had collided into earlier. Kingdra waited out the move before rushing at feraligatr and tackling it.

This proved to be a mistake, as the big jaw pokémon grabbed onto the sea horse and pelted it with a powerful ice punch, knocking the dragon pokémon to the ground. Feraligatr panted a little, energy building up inside it.

"Kingdra is unable to battle, feraligatr wins! Fay will now send out his final pokémon!"

"So it's come down to his now," Fay said, pulling out his last pokémon. "Niko, this has been an incredible battle. Do you remember our first ever gym battle, against Brock?" Niko nodded. "Well, I had the disadvantage then, just like I do now. And I won that match, just like I will now. Charizard, I choose you!"

"Feraligatr, even though it's a fire type, don't underestimate it, alright?" Niko cautioned. Feraligatr reassured its trainer, turning and nodding at Niko. "Let's finish this then. Use whirlpool!"

"Charizard, respond with dragon rage!"

Charizard leapt out of the way as the whirlpool formed below it, retaliating with a stream of purple fire at feraligatr. Feraligatr then rushed forward, its fist frozen. Charizard did the same, ready to use seismic toss.

The pokémon collided, hand in fist as they grabbed one another and pressed against their opponent with as much force as possible, neither giving any ground. Feraligatr then let go of charizard's right claw and landed an ice punch, while charizard used the opportunity to escape feraligatr's grip and wrap its claws around the big jaw pokémon, lifting it into the air with surprising strength. The two came back down moments later, with feraligatr crashing into the ground.

Feraligatr got back up, now looking exhausted. Charizard, having also fought noctowl, looked tired too, but tried not to show it as it released another dragon rage, which was countered by feraligatr's ice punch, now acting as a shield against the purple fire.

The big jaw pokémon then rushed again at charizard, its fist frozen. It landed another ice punch and managed to bite onto charizard's shoulder as the flame pokémon used seismic toss once more.

Niko was no longer biting his finger. This was it. He was ready to finish this, win or lose. Fay felt the same as he focused solely on the two pokémon duking it out on the field.

Both charizard and feraligatr managed to lock claws once more, refusing to give any more ground. It was clear that in terms of raw strength, they were equals, although charizard had far more battling experience than its opponent.

"Feraligatr, hydro pump!"

"Charizard, flamethrower!"

Niko and Fay delivered their commands simultaneously, causing both pokémon to launch backwards from the force of the resulting explosion of fire and water. A steam cloud erupted in the middle of field and expanded, obstructing the view for everyone, even Niko and Fay.

"Feraligatr?" Niko called out. "Feraligatr? Can you hear me?"

The big jaw pokémon gave a low roar as it slowly got back up. The steam cloud dissipated, revealing two very exhausting pokémon. Suddenly, feraligatr began to glow a bright blue color; charizard a bright red color.

"What's that…?" Niko wondered. It appeared Fay had the same question. However, neither got their answer during the battle, as it was answered in the stands.

"Looks like torrent and blaze to me," Niko's Dad commented.

"What're those?" JJ asked.

"Torrent and blaze are feraligatr's and charizard's unique abilities. Each pokémon has a hidden ability on top of their movesets. These ones are unique only to these pokémon and very few others. When the pokémon in question is close to fainting, torrent, blaze, and its grass type counterpart, overgrow, power the type-specific moves of those pokémon. In other words, charizard's fire moves and feraligatr's water moves are more powerful."

"Wow…" Brittany replied. "It's about to finish now, isn't it?"

"Looks like it," Niko's Dad responded.

Niko and Fay stood there for a moment, observing their two pokémon in awe. Flashbacks of his travels flooded Niko's mind as he commanded a final move. As it happened, Fay ordered a move at the same time, once more.

"Hydro pump!"

"Flamethrower!"

The bursts of fire and water erupted out of the two powered-up pokémon, colliding in the field.

"Feraligatr, don't give up!" Niko shouted. "You've never been that pokémon, ever!" The big jaw pokémon seemed to hear these words, as the hydro pump got significantly stronger, slowly overpowering the flamethrower.

Both pokémon took slow steps forward towards one another. However, it was brief, as the flamethrower suddenly subsided and charizard was doused with the hydro pump. Feraligatr ended its move as well as charizard collapsed onto the ground.

"Charizard is unable to battle, feraligatr wins! The victory goes to Niko from Pallet Town!"

Niko stood in place speechless. The crowd around him—specifically his friends and family—were cheering loudly. Fay and Charizard were walking over to him. Only feraligatr understood what Niko was thinking about. It approached its trainer and patted him on the shoulder, just as he has observed Fay and JJ doing before.

"We…we did it…" Niko finally said, finally looking up from the ground and around him. Fay and charizard stood before him.

"Niko," Fay said, thrusting out his hand. "Good game, man."

Niko returned the gesture. "Thanks…Fay. Same to you."

* * *

Back in the stadium lounge, Niko and Fay were sitting with their friends, discussing their match as well as Elliot's, who wasn't able to watch due to his match being in a separate stadium at the same time. As it turned out, he also proceeded to the Top 8, which increased the likelihood that Niko might have to face him. Niko didn't think much of it, though. His mind was occupied, still in shock from having defeated his longtime friend for the very first time. His greatest rival.

 _His greatest rival…_

Niko's head shot up, as if he had heard something alarming. Remembering what the seer said, he turned to Fay with a mixture of bemusement and shock. _You will discover the calling in your life_ … _what does that mean? Is Fay not going to be a trainer? Is he?_ Niko pondered this more as they group returned to the stadium, where Goodshow was to announce the next set of matches for the final 8.

"Welcome one and all to the quarterfinals of the Silver Conference!" Goodshow shouted through the microphone. "All matches from here on out will be in this stadium, and all will be full pokémon battles. Today we will conduct the Top 8 matches, and then tomorrow we will do the semifinal and final matches! So, without further ado…here are the next four matches in the quarterfinals!"

The eight faces—including Niko's and Elliot's—spun around on the screen before settling into four pairings. Once again, one pairing contained two familiar faces.

Niko and Elliot.


	54. Episode 54: The fiercest rival

**Episode 54: The fiercest rival**

Niko got up from the seat he was in, as did Elliot. They looked at each other for a split second before parting ways in the stands. The rest of the group was rather quiet as the two left. Seeing an opening, Brittany quickly got out of her seat and ran in Niko's direction.

"Niko!" She shouted, running down the stairs in pursuit of her friend. The brown-haired trainer turned around on the middle of the staircase and looked up at her.

"Yeah? What's up, Brittany?" He asked rather confusedly.

"Good luck!" She said before running down to embrace him. Niko then distinctly remembers her lips touching his for a moment or two before releasing themselves and running away, attached to a now blushing face.

"…what the hell…" Niko muttered to himself. He had seen way too many surprises that day.

Niko approached his end of the field, noticing that Elliot was already standing there, hands in pockets, ready to battle.

"Hey, Niko," Elliot shouted out.

"Hey, Elliot," Niko replied.

"Good luck, man," He said, giving him a two-finger salute. Niko simply nodded as the judge began to explain the rules. Niko and Elliot quietly listened until given permission to begin the match.

"Nidoking, you're up!"

"Noctowl, I choose you!" Niko shouted. As he did so, he realized that something was off. Whether it was the shock of beating Fay, or Brittany kissing him, or him now facing Elliot in the _quarterfinals_ , he didn't quite feel himself. Everything was happening so fast now, and Niko didn't feel like he could keep up. He shook his head to try and rid himself of the thoughts before continuing. "Noctowl, use steel wing!"

"Nidoking, brace yourself for impact!" Elliot said plainly. He hadn't seen Niko's match with Fay, and so he didn't see the switch Niko pulled on charizard in said match.

"Noctowl, switch to hypnosis!" Niko shouted. Nidoking—not the fastest pokémon around—quickly fell under noctowl's spell, crashing onto the ground, fast asleep. "Noctowl, dream eater!"

The owl pokémon stood on the ground and quietly closed its eyes, attempting to break into nidoking's mind. It succeeded when the drill pokémon started shaking violently in its sleep. Noctowl then opened its eyes again as nidoking woke up, clearly upset now.

"Nidoking, take your rage out on noctowl! Use thrash!" Elliot commanded. The drill pokémon rushed forward, kicking and punching as it approached noctowl.

"Noctowl, use hypnosis again!" Niko said. It was too late, however: nidoking had already grabbed noctowl as threw it to the ground and began to stomp on it a few times before the owl pokémon was able to escape back into the air. "Alright then! Noctowl, steel wing!"

The flying type dove back towards its opponent, managing to land the attack successfully before getting thrashed once more. However, after a while, nidoking was so enraged that it accidentally hit itself a few times in confusion. Noctowl, exhausted and in pain as it was, dove once more with steel wing. When the two pokémon collided, neither came back out.

"Noctowl and nidoking are unable to battle! Niko and Elliot will now send out their second pokémon!"

"Wow…" JJ commented. "He managed to tie Elliot already?"

"Elliot's going light on him…" Fay replied, chin resting on his hands as he watched. "Remember, Elliot has a scizor, houndoom, and poliwrath. You've seen them battle, right JJ?"

"That's true…Niko's got a tough fight ahead of him," JJ then turned to Brittany. "Speaking of Niko, why did you follow him after?"

Brittany avoided eye contact with JJ. "N-no reason. J-just wanted to say good l-luck."

"Ah, I see," JJ said, chuckling under his breath before continuing to watch.

"Hitmonchan, let's go!"

"Espeon, you're up!" Elliot shouted. "You sure you don't want to sub out, Niko?"

"No. We can beat you, right hitmonchan?" The punching pokémon nodded in agreement.

"Fine, suit yourself. Espeon, use psychic!"

The sun pokémon's eyes began to glow as it picked hitmonchan up and immediately slammed it back into the ground. It then proceeded to toss the fighting type around several times before launching it into a nearby wall. Niko, in awe at the power of the psychic type, had no idea what to do. Hitmonchan fell to the ground at last, released from the power of espeon's mind. He bit his finger as he slowly figured out how to approach this.

"Hitmonchan, can you keep going?" Niko asked. His loyal fighting type turned and weakly thrust a boxing glove in the air. "Alright…" Niko said with uncertainty in his voice. "Use mega punch!"

Hitmonchan ran forward, its fist glowing bright white, and was able to land an attack on espeon, who hadn't seemed to budge. _What the hell…_ Niko thought. _Why didn't it try to dodge? Is Elliot…toying with me?_

"Espeon, finish it off with psychic!" Elliot commanded. The sun pokémon took control of hitmonchan's body once more and violently threw it against the opposite wall. The punching pokémon collapsed on the ground, defeated.

"Hitmonchan is unable to battle, espeon wins! Niko will send out his third pokémon!"

"Yanma, let's go!" Niko shouted. He didn't appreciate that rouse from Elliot. It didn't seem fair to him. "Use double team!"

"Espeon, psychic!" Elliot demanded. The psychic type took control of one of the yanmas and tried to collide it with the others. However, it didn't seem to stop some of the copies from attacking espeon, using a mixture of wing attacks and quick attacks. The real yanma then shot from above using wing attack. "Psychic!"

Espeon looked up and saw the real yanma hurtling towards it. It then took control of its body and threw it to the ground.

"Now, use morning sun!"

The sun pokémon began to glow a bright yellow color as it healed itself. Niko and yanma then saw an opportunity to attack and hopefully disrupt the healing process.

"Yanma, sonicboom!" Niko yelled. The clear wing pokémon conjured a wave of sonic energy that it blasted at the sun pokémon, knocking it off its feet. Espeon abruptly stopped healing. "Now, combine quick attack and wing attack!"

Yanma's body began to glow white as it rushed at its opponent, striking with the force of two moves. Espeon fell back over again.

"And _this_ is for hitmonchan!" Niko shouted again in a rather angry tone. "Yanma! Use double team and sonicboom!"

Yanma copied itself a dozen times, surrounding espeon. The copies all released sonic waves, albeit far weaker than the real thing, but damaging nonetheless. Espeon tried to reel back from the attacks, but couldn't. It fell forward, landing on its cheek.

"Espeon is unable to battle, yanma wins! Elliot will not send out his third pokémon!"

"Espeon, return. Great job. Ampharos, you're up!"

"Yanma, return buddy. I'm proud of you. Venusaur, I choose you!"

"Hmm…you're switching based on type now. Good job, Niko," Elliot said, golf-clapping. "Ampharos, use thunderpunch!"

"Venusaur, just like the battle with electabuzz, remember?" The seed pokémon slightly turned its head and nodded. It then released a stream of razor leaves at the light pokémon, who stopped in the middle of field and tried to shield itself from the leaves.

"Ampharos, use thunder!" Elliot commanded, knowing that it would help to stop the onslaught of leaves. Venusaur stopped its move momentarily. Ampharos caught its breath, and rushed forward once more, landing a thunderpunch on the seed pokémon.

Niko, confident that he could beat this electric type, smirked. "Venusaur, stun spore!"

Venusaur surprised Niko—the number of spores emitted from its flower were significantly more than it had ever used before. Ampharos attempted to escape, punching at the spores with thunderpunch, but it still ended up stunned.

"Now venusaur, use solarbeam!" Niko cried out. While ampharos was unable to move, venusaur collected sunlight in its bulb. Nearly a minute later, it released the energy stored in the form of a beam, directly hitting ampharos and quickly defeating it.

"Ampharos is unable to battle, venusaur wins! Elliot will now send out his fourth pokémon!"

"Houndoom, let's go!"

"Venusaur, return," Niko said, exchanging pokéballs. "Feraligatr, you're up!"

"Smart Niko, smart," Elliot said with a more genuine tone this time. For a moment, Niko could see he was enjoying this match more. "Houndoom, use faint attack!"

Again, not knowing feraligatr had learned hydro pump, Niko waited until the dark pokémon had appeared to let out this new trump card. One houndoom reappeared behind feraligatr did Niko shout out commands.

"Feraligatr, use ice punch!" Niko commanded. Feraligatr swung around with a frozen fist, but realized houndoom was gone once again. It had used faint attack once more, hitting the big jaw pokémon in the back again. And again. And again.

 _Damn, it's fast…_ Niko thought. He looked just as exhausted as his water type was. "Alright feraligatr, we need to be quicker on our feet!"

Houndoom has reappeared back in the middle of the field, awaiting further command. Feraligatr turned and stared down its opponent.

"Use hydro pump!"

"Flamethrower!"

In a repeat of the previous match with Fay, Niko figured he now had the upper hand. Houndoom was no charizard. That much was obvious.

"Feraligatr, keep it up! You can beat it!" Niko shouted. Soon enough, the blast of water quickly overtook the stream of fire, exploding into a cloud of steam. "Now finish it off with whirlpool!" Niko shouted out. The big jaw pokémon conjured a whirlpool around houndoom, swallowing the dark pokémon inside it and spinning it around, eventually tossing it back onto the grassy field, which seemed to be the theme of this match.

"Houndoom is unable to battle, feraligatr wins! Elliot will now send out his fifth pokémon!"

"Wow!" Jacob exclaimed. "Niko has four pokémon left, and Elliot only has two! This is insane…"

"But scizor is still left, and its Elliot's strongest pokémon by far," Fay warned. "Niko hasn't really fought scizor before. He probably doesn't know what he's getting himself into."

"Poliwrath, I choose you!" Elliot threw out the pokéball containing the tadpole pokémon.

"Feraligatr, return," Niko said, substituting his pokémon. He had other types that could beat poliwrath easily. "Yanma, let's go!"

"Again, nice choice, Niko," Elliot smirked. "Poliwrath, use hydro pump!"

"Yanma, sonicboom!" Niko shouted out as the powerful burst of water met the sonic wave, creating an explosion in the middle of the air. "Now go in for a quick wing attack!"

Elliot smirked again as yanma dove down towards poliwrath, hoping to hit it. "Poliwrath, use ice punch!"

Poliwrath's fist froze up as it jumped into the air and hit yanma on the back as the clear wing pokémon made contact with the tadpole's body. Both flew backwards, only poliwrath was able to land on its feet. Yanma crashed into the ground.

"Niko, you've done well so far, but it ends here. Poliwrath, use hydro pump again!"

"Yanma, get up!" Niko cried out. His bug pokémon was one of the more determined pokémon he had, and didn't want to see it get defeated this way. Yanma slowly got back up, but was hit in the face by hydro pump, knocking it several feet backwards and landed on its back.

"Yanma is unable to battle, poliwrath wins! Niko will send out his next pokémon!"

"Venusaur! Let's go!" Niko shouted out. "Use solarbeam!"

"Poliwrath, ice punch!" Elliot commanded. The tadpole pokémon ran across the grassy field as venusaur soaked in the sun's energy. Right before it leapt at the grass type to land its ice punch, it was faced with a fully charged solarbeam to the face, violently knocking it to the ground.

"Now use stun spore!" Niko demanded. Venusaur released yellow spores from its flower and covered its now paralyzed opponent in them. "And finish it off with razor leaf!"

The seed pokémon bombarded poliwrath with razor-sharp leaves until the water type was released from the stun spore. It got up, enduring the leaves, and slammed its fist into the side of venusaur's face before falling on its back, defeated.

"Poliwrath is unable to battle, venusaur wins! Elliot will now send out his final pokémon!"

"Niko, it ends now. Scizor, I choose you!"

"Elliot, no it does not. Venusaur, return. Feraligatr, let's go!"

"Scizor, steel wing!" Elliot commanded. The pincer pokémon rushed forward at an unbelievable speed, slashing right across feraligatr with steel wing. The big jaw pokémon got down onto one knee, pained from the attack. "Now, use metal claw!"

As scizor began to slam its claw on feraligatr's head, the water type reached up and grabbed onto its claw, holding it in place with incredible strength.

"Feraligatr, use hydro pump!" Niko shouted out. The big jaw pokémon belted out a powerful burst of water at its opponent, sending it flying into the air. As it began to descend, feraligatr prepared an ice punch as a follow up. However, scizor also had a retaliatory measure in mind. Its metal claw collided with ice punch. The two pokémon shot in opposite directions. Feraligatr got back up, albeit slowly, and was quickly met with scizor, who slammed into it with another steel wing, knocking feraligatr back down and out for the count.

"Feraligatr is unable to battle, scizor wins! Niko will now send out his next pokémon!"

"Wow…" Jacob said in awe. "That scizor is strong."

"To be fair," JJ interjected, "feraligatr did take a lot of damage from houndoom previously. But yeah, scizor is strong."

"He doesn't really have anything that is advantageous to scizor anyways…" Fay said, "He has no fire types, and his fighting type has been defeated already…"

"Magneton, you're up!" Niko shouted, summoning his trust electric type. "Use thunderwave!"

"Scizor, fly into the air and strike down with steel wing when you can!" Elliot calmly said. The pincer pokémon waited for its moment to strike its fellow steel type before launching down and doing so. It crashed into magneton as the magnet pokémon released a thunderbolt. It hardly seemed to do any damaged as the two steel types collided with the grassy field below.

"Magneton, can you hold out just a little longer?"

The magnet pokémon nodded, understanding what Niko was indicating to it. He knew Elliot was smart enough to try and evade what he was about to use, and he wanted to keep it secret. This might be his ticket to victory.

"Scizor, use metal claw!" Elliot commanded. The pincer pokémon rushed forward as magneton as it focused on its opponent and, generating more electricity than it normally does, unleashed the zap cannon as scizor was within mere feet of it.

The two pokémon exploded backwards, crumbling into the ground. After rolling for several feet, scizor was able to get back up. It seemed rattled, but not too damaged or exhausted. Magneton, just like the last match with Fay, seemed unable to get up again.

"Magneton is unable to battle, scizor wins! Niko will now send out his final pokémon!"

"Magneton, you did great. Couldn't have asked for more from you. Return. Venusaur, I choose you!"

Niko threw out his final pokéball, summoning his first pokémon.

"How poetic, our most powerful pokémon in the final round of our only match together. Anyways, scizor, use wing attack!"

"Venusaur, let's win this, alright? Use stun spore!"

"Scizor, dodge the spores and attack from behind!"

"What!?" Niko exclaimed as he watched scizor side-step the yellow spores and slam into venusaur's back. The seed pokémon cringed for a moment before beginning to summon solar energy. "Good job, venusaur. Let's do that."

"Scizor, quick before solarbeam launches! Use metal claw!"

The pincer pokémon slammed its light-gray claw atop venusaur's head, knocking the grass type to the ground, the latter's legs buckling under the force of the attack. Solarbeam launched just as scizor landed the attack, launching it backwards several yards, right in front of Elliot.

"Venusaur…" Niko said softly. "Whatever happens here, know that I'm always going to be proud of you. You're always a winner to me. Now, let's finish this. Venusaur, use razor leaf!"

"Scizor, block them with metal claw!" Elliot shouted out. The pincer pokémon slapped away the sharp leaves. Even when they did hit the steel type, scizor hardly seemed fazed. Scizor then leapt at venusaur, its claw glowing light gray, as it slammed it back down onto the seed pokémon's head. More razor leaves hit scizor, causing it to move back a few steps as venusaur charged up a final solarbeam.

"VENUSAUR, SOLARBEAM!" Niko shouted to the heavens.

"Scizor, use wing attack!" Elliot cried out as well. The beam of solar energy hit just as scizor made contact with venusaur one final time. The grass attack hit scizor square in the face, launching it across the grassy field. As it got back up, venusaur collapsed onto the ground.

"Venusaur is unable to battle, scizor wins! The victory goes to Elliot from Viridian City!" The judge declared.

Niko ran over to the seed pokémon and embraced it.

"You did great buddy. Like I said, I'm always proud of you."

Elliot walked up to Niko, scizor at his side.

"Niko, great job, man," He said, holding out his hand. "I hope we get to battle again someday."

Niko smiled earnestly, returning the handshake. "You can count on it. You know, Fay may be my greatest rival, but you're definitely my fiercest."

"I'll take it," Elliot said, smirking. "Anyways, I've got another battle to prepare for. See ya."

"We'll be watching, buddy."

* * *

That night, the group celebrated the end of the Silver Conference. Elliot was noticeably absent—he wanted to be alone with his pokémon for the night. The battles were getting far more difficult now, and like all trainers, he was certainly nervous.

"So, what's next for everyone?" Niko's Mom asked, addressing the whole group.

"Well, I'm going home," Niko said, grinning. Fay nodded as well.

"I think I'm going to spend some time in Azalea Town with Maizie, actually," JJ added, his arm over the girl's shoulder.

"I'm headed back to Vermilion City," Brittany replied, "I want to see family, but I was hoping to come and visit Pallet Town again."

"Well, you're always welcome at our house, Brittany," Niko's Mom said, smiling warmly.

Niko and Brittany eyed each other briefly, likely thinking the same thing. They hadn't told anyone about their brief kiss before the last match. Niko wanted to say something about Brittany not being able to stay at his home, but he didn't want to make things more awkward for the both of them.

Jacob and Cody were next. "We're heading back home, maybe do some travelling in Kanto, not sure yet," Jacob said.

"I have to do some work at the shop," Cody added. "But I'll be free again after the summer I think."

"Yeah, I might go and help out the family at work too," JJ added. "At least, until our next adventure, right guys?"

Niko, Brittany, and Fay all nodded with varying degrees of nervousness. Dinner has ended shortly after that, with Fay going up to his suite with Jacob and Cody. JJ and Maizie went to have some alone time. Niko went outside to get some fresh air. He sat down on the edge of one of the fountains, looking up at the stadium, and then the stars.

"Mind if I sit here?"

Niko turned to see a familiar brunette standing nearby. He nodded, patting the space next to him. They were silent for what seemed like eternity before Niko finally spoke.

"So…uh…can you explain…"

"The kiss?" Brittany asked. Niko nodded shyly. "Well, here's the thing, Niko. I kind of like you."

"Why?" Niko asked curtly. Brittany seemed taken aback by this response.

"Because I do Niko! Why shouldn't I? You're such a kind and caring person! You always try to find the best in your pokémon, strong or weak! You are modest! You have humility!"

"Brittany…I'm none of those things."

"I think you are."

"Well, I think you're wrong," Niko said sternly, turning to his friend. "I think that that kiss was a mistake. Now what is going to happen? I don't feel the same way, so now everything is going to be awkward between us! You can't come visit, and we might not get to travel again!"

"Niko…you're talking as if we can't be friends anymore…" Brittany looked hurt. A couple of tears began to form at the bottom of her eyes.

"Well, if I don't reciprocate your feelings, doesn't it basically end our friendship?"

"No…no it does not…" Brittany replied, now on the verge of crying.

"Oh, Brittany…don't…don't cry…please…" Niko said rather pathetically.

"No, I will Niko! You'll always be my friend, regardless of whether or not you like me!" Brittany said, getting up and storming back into the stadium towards their suite, leaving Niko alone.

* * *

The following day, the group gathered in the main stadium to watch Elliot's next match in the semifinals. For most of the battle, he seemed to do alright, but his scizor got caught at the end by a powerful fire blast from his opponent's arcanine, effectively ending the match. This trainer ultimately went on to win the Silver Conference.

After the finals, the group went back to their suite to pack up. Niko hadn't tried to talk to Brittany the whole day, and vice versa. Fay and JJ noticed, but didn't want to say anything until they had all arrived back in Pallet Town.

Meeting their friends back in the main lobby, the group said farewell to Jacob, Cody, Maizie, and Elliot. JJ passionately kissed Maizie before joining the rest in their goodbyes to the three rivals.

After several handshakes, the group got into the back of Niko's parent's car with Jake and made the long trip back to Pallet Town by midnight. Brittany asked to stay at JJ's house until morning, when she would be picked up by her parents.

She said nothing to Niko the whole time.

* * *

 **Author's note: Oh man oh man, time for the finale! Will Brittany and Niko become friends again? What will become of the group? Will they travel again and, if so, then where? Find out in the next episode!**


	55. Episode 55: A goal in mind

**Author's Note: Finale time! I'll have most of my comments on the season at large at the end, but I do want to say here that i've really enjoyed writing this season, and I hope that you've enjoyed reading it just as much! It's been a lot of writing-and some curious cases of writer's block-but we're here all the same! Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Episode 55: A goal in mind**

The summer seemed to pass by with relative quickness.

Fay spent most of his time helping out Professor Oak as an intern, just like the previous summer. As a team, they made occasional trips to Johto, where Fay had reconvened with Clair on a brief occasion. It seemed that he was coming closer to figuring out what he wanted to do next, but was still unsure. He would occasionally see Niko and JJ, and on some occasions Jacob and Cody, who visited from Viridian City every couple of weeks or so.

JJ travelled to Johto for a few weeks to visit Maizie. Otherwise, he was helping his family at home and in their shop. Umbreon, chikorita, growlithe, and beedrill were all incredibly helpful in this capacity, and joined JJ on his miniature adventures, either to Johto or to Viridian City to see Jacob and Cody.

Niko spent most of his summer at home. He would run around and occasionally train with his 10 pokémon. On most days, Jake would join in, and the two would have mock battles. One day at dinner, Jake had expressed interest in going on a journey as well.

"Jake, you're still too young," Mom said worriedly.

"But Niko can go!" Jake protested.

"Sorry Jake, I have to agree with Mom on this one," Niko said softly. "I was 17 when I started. You're 11."

"Well, a lot of trainers start at 10!"

"True, but you also have other things to worry about first," Niko continued.

"I don't have to though," Jake said plainly.

"Anyways, boys," Dad finally spoke out. "Let's talk about this later. Niko, how's Brittany doing? Have you heard from her recently?"

"No, I haven't," Niko said rather quietly.

"Why not dear?" Mom asked.

"We're…not exactly on speaking terms…"

"And why aren't you on speaking terms?" Mom pressed further.

"We just aren't! We got into an argument after the Silver Conference and haven't talked in a while!" Niko said, slamming his silver utensils onto the table. His parents warned him to calm down, and he quickly did so. He had thought about Brittany every day since their fight. Nothing had changed; he still didn't have feelings for her, but he felt bad about how he reacted to it.

The following morning, Niko went to visit JJ at the shop. It was the end of August now, and the curly blonde was itching to go somewhere else.

"Where next, Niko!?" JJ said after they exchanged greetings.

"JJ," Niko said, chuckling a little bit under his breath, "I don't know, man. Fay's pretty caught up in his internship right now, and Brittany isn't speaking to me, so I don't know when."

"Brittany's coming back to visit today, actually. Forgot to tell ya."

"Why would you forget to tell me that?" Niko asked.

"Well, it didn't seem like you wanted to hear about her. She told me everything, though. That was messed up, man."

"Yeah, I'm fully aware of that, JJ," Niko muttered. "Well, when does she come in?"

"Now," a voice from behind them said plainly. Niko and JJ turned to see a familiar brunette face standing in the doorway. "Hi, JJ, Niko," Brittany said as she walked through the convenience shop.

"Hi Brittany!" JJ exclaimed, running around the counter to hug his friend. Brittany then looked over at Niko, who awkwardly reached his hand out.

Brittany returned it. "Hey, can we talk?" Niko asked as he stared into her hazel eyes. Brittany nodded, and the two exited the shop and sat on a bench nearby.

"What's up, Niko?" Brittany asked, pushing her hair back over her shoulder.

"I…I just wanted to say I'm sorry. For everything. I was an idiot, and I don't know why, and I know we'll probably not be friends again, and—what?"

A very confused Niko felt Brittany hug him tightly.

"What…Brittany…what?"

"I forgive you, Niko," Brittany said, releasing her friend and looking up. "Like I told you, we'll always be friends. I've thought a lot about you, and us, during the summer. We're not meant to be, at least not now. I accept and understand that you don't feel the same way. I hope maybe you will one day, but if you don't I get it. I'd rather have you as a friend than mope around about not having you as more than that."

Niko nodded. "Yeah, I feel the same way. About being friends, that is."

Brittany smiled warmly. She really did have a nice smile. "Great."

"Anyways," Niko began, setting his arms to rest on his legs as he looked out at Pallet Town. "I've been thinking a lot recently."

"Oh dear," Brittany said teasingly.

"Oh c'mon!" Niko replied. "I mean…about the Silver Conference. I'm not sad about how well I did…at all, actually."

"And you shouldn't be! You did amazing!" Brittany said, throwing her arms up in emphasis.

"Heh, thanks. But because I did better than I had expected, it made me think about what I want to do now. I don't _just_ want to travel, you know? I want to make something of it.

"I want to be a pokémon master."

Brittany stared at Niko for a few moments, studying him. Then, she simply said "You can do it."

That seemed to be all the affirmation that Niko needed. "Thanks, Brittany. I mean it, though. I'm not the best at battling, obviously, but I want to keep improving. I want to travel and see new lands, meet as many pokémon as I can, and improve my battling skills so that I can be the best trainer that I can possibly be."

"Then do it, Niko!" Brittany exclaimed, slapping her friend on the back. Niko laughed a little as JJ ran out of the shop.

"What's going on?" The curly blonde boy asked, looking at the two. "Are you two friends again?"

"Of course, JJ, why wouldn't we be?" Niko asked quizzically.

"Well, yeah! But seriously, what's up?"

Niko turned to Brittany again. "JJ has been hounding me about when we're going to go on another adventure."

"Oh, well that's just great! Because I actually brought my things with me!"

"Wait…what?" Niko asked once again. Too many times that day he had been confused. This moment was one of the many.

"I figured we'd be going to do something, just didn't know where. So, I talked with my parents and they seemed fine with it. Nothing's happened to me yet, so they're pretty trusting of you three."

"Well, that's good to know…" Niko replied, grinning. "But that doesn't solve the question…where _do_ we want to go?"

The three thought for a moment before JJ finally said something.

"How about Hoenn? Remember that guy from Olivine City, Norman?"

"You mean the dude that you spilled coffee on?" Brittany teased.

JJ sighed heavily. "Yes…that guy. Why don't we go check out that region? They have a league, too, so you can compete in that, Niko!"

"Yeah, that's true. After all," he looked at Brittany, "I do want to be a pokémon master."

"You never told me that…" JJ gave his friend a bemused look.

"Well, I just told Brittany. Anyways, let's go pitch it to Fay! He should be at Professor Oak's doing some work. I'm sure he won't mind the visit."

Fay was typing away on one of the lab computers, doing some research online about pokémon abilities. Ever since charizard and feraligatr's incident in the Silver Conference, where both of their "abilities" had activated, Fay had wanted to learn more. Professor Oak, who himself didn't know too much about them, set his new intern to work on a project detailing the different kinds of abilities and their effects on pokémon.

"Hey, Fay!" Niko said, walking into Fay's office. The black-haired trainer turned around and got out of his seat to greet his friends and hug Brittany.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Fay wondered. He was now clad in a dress shirt, slacks, and a lab coat, similar to what Professors Oak and Elm wear.

"Well, Niko wants to be a pokémon master and we were thinking of travelling to Hoenn. Oh, and uh, Niko and Brittany are friends again!" JJ said, summarizing the past half hour to his longtime friend.

"Oh…wow. Well first off, congrats, Niko and Brittany, glad you're on speaking terms again. Second, glad you found a calling, Niko! I figured after you beat Clair that something had changed inside you. I chalked it up to simple courage, but your performance in the Silver Conference sold me on the idea of you pursing battling as a goal now.

"And, as for Hoenn…I don't think I'll be joining you."

"What!?" Niko, Brittany, and JJ all said in unison.

"That's the response I expected," Fay admitted. "You see, after battling Clair and competing in the Silver Conference, I realized that battling just wasn't my thing. Yeah, I'm good at it, but I began to reflect on my time in Johto, and sometimes I felt like my heart wasn't totally in it like it was when we travelled through Kanto."

"Well, then what _do_ you want to do?" JJ questioned.

"Well, two things. I want to continue training dragon pokémon. Clair made me realize my affinity for them, and has given me pointers on them since. I'm going back to Blackthorn in a month to practice with her and the Dragon Master. I also want to go into pokémon research. Professor Oak has put me on this project to learn about pokémon abilities. Niko, that's what happened to charizard and feraligatr during our match, when they began to glow. It was their hidden abilities—blaze and torrent—that had activated," Fay then went into a brief explanation of the abilities and what he knew so far. "Ultimately, I think that this is my plan for now. I get to do research and still train, just not competitively."

"Well," Niko finally said. "We're gonna miss you, man."

"I'll miss you guys, too. Niko, if you make it to the Hoenn League, I'll be sure to come and watch."

"I expect you to," Niko said. The two friend's exchanged a firm handshake. "Now, we need to get going. I have to explain this all to my parents, and I'm sure JJ does as well."

* * *

That evening, Niko was up in his room packing. As he did so, magneton was sitting on his bed watching him, as were a few of his smaller pokémon.

"Hey guys, I know it's sudden, but I'm going to be back. I promise."

His pokémon seemed to understand, or at least his Kanto pokémon did. Delibird and yanma were downright distraught by the news. Noctowl, even though it didn't want to admit it, was very sad as well. Feraligatr, who was sitting outside with venusaur, didn't seem to take it well either. Even Niko felt some pangs of regret, but he made the choice to start fresh in Hoenn. It was a tradition for him now, and he wanted to keep it up. It worked well enough for Johto, anyways.

As he finished packing, he looked up and saw Jake standing in his doorway.

"Oh, what's up, Jake?" Niko asked, turning around.

"Can I come with you?" The 11-year old boy asked.

"Didn't Mom and Dad say you couldn't travel?"

"They never said anything about travelling with you though," Jake replied.

"Did you already ask them?"

"Yeah! They said I'd have to ask you, but they seemed okay with it. They trust you, obviously."

Niko thought for a moment. His little brother, joining him on his journeys. He always looked out for his brother growing up, and at times been overly protective.

Niko hesitated for a moment before coming to a decision. "Sure. You can come with us."

Jake went through the roof in excitement. He then ran back downstairs to tell his parents and ran back upstairs to pack his things. Niko smiled. He knew that his responsibilities were now two-fold—he was responsible for him _and_ Jake now.

The following morning, Niko awoke to Jake jumping up and down on his bed in excitement. Getting up, Niko went to take a shower and gather up his things. As they did when they left for Johto, everyone was there to see him, Brittany, and JJ off: Niko's parents, their pokémon, Professor Oak, and now Fay and his pokémon.

The large group gathered at Oak's lab, where the Professor needed to give them instructions.

"Now you four, I contacted Hoenn's regional pokémon professor, Birch, on your travels. I suggest you head to his lab in Littleroot Town, where he can help you get started on your journey from there, got it?"

The group nodded, Jake extra eagerly.

"Also, here are your tickets. You'll be taking a boat from here to Vermilion City, and then from Vermilion City to the port in Littleroot Town. And most importantly, enjoy yourselves."

"Thanks for everything, professor," Niko said, shaking the elderly man's hand. Brittany, JJ, and Jake all did the same. They then turned to their friends and family.

"Take care of your brother, Niko," Dad said as he hugged his two boys. Mom said the same thing. Niko then looked at his pokémon.

"Bye guys…I'll miss you all."

Delibird and yanma couldn't handle it, and tackled Niko to the ground, urging him to either not leave or take them with him. Niko got back up, feeling like he crushed something in his backpack.

"Yanma, delibird, you guys will be fine. Just keep practicing your moves. Noctowl…" Niko said, turning to his owl pokémon. "Thanks for everything. I'll see you when I get back. Feraligatr," Niko then turned to the big jaw pokémon, who was busy trying to deny reality. Niko walked up and put a hand on the crocodile's shoulder. "See ya, buddy," the trainer said, embracing his pokémon. Niko then took a step back and said good-bye to his Kanto team. Venusaur nodded, tacitly saying its farewells. Niko smiled softly at his first pokémon as he then turned to Fay.

"Kick ass, pokémon master."

"Heh, thanks man. See ya soon," Niko said before pulling Fay into a hug. He let go and began to walk backwards, waving to the group as he and his three friends walked south to Pallet Town's small port, where they would travel to Vermilion City and begin their next journey.

"So…you two are bringing your pokémon with you?" Niko asked as he looked at Brittany and JJ, both of whom had pichu and azurill in their arms, as per usual.

"Yeah, I left beedrill back at the shop to help out. Otherwise, I've got the same pokémon!" JJ exclaimed. Brittany nodded, indicating that she had kept her three pokémon with her for this journey.

As they set sail for a new adventure with his close friends, Niko had never felt happier.

* * *

 **Author's note: Alright y'all, Season 2 is over! A few logistical things first: Season 3 will start next Friday, May 19th. Also, since I realize it was a bad idea to even consider writing two episodes a day, i'm toning it down to one per day, and publishing as such. It's a lot of work to put together an episode. Make no mistake-I enjoy it a lot, but it's a _ton_ of work. So, with the exception of the first two episodes, I will only publish once a day. I really can't do more than that anymore.**

 **Now, I want to thank people for following, favoriting, and reviewing:**

 **Thanks to Eeveefan1290, Zeus007, abdulmoizshahzad83, and herefordsnowmad12 for following (and for also following!). Thanks to Athios, Elphis, PhenioxMaster, Poosa-ard, and nahor295 for favoriting. And thanks to a couple of guests, pokemaster3164, zelda23, and wyldclaw for reviewing.**

 **Speaking of reviews, I got a couple that addressed the character of Fay. I would like to take a moment to respond to those reviews, since i'm sure they're not the only ones:**

 **Admittedly, I may have messed up on his character from the start, and didn't realize it until later. Let me explain: Fay was meant to be, in some ways, Niko's opposite. While Niko is new to the idea of training pokemon, and isn't the best at it at first, Fay is. That's why Fay wins every gym battle, and Niko doesn't-he is just naturally talented at it. This is ultimately Niko's story, of how he develops his goal to become a pokemon master, as you just read in this episode. Fay was originally designed as a way to get Niko to this point by challenging him, from the Indigo League to the Silver Conference, Fay was meant to make Niko a better, more ambitious trainer. And I wanted to do this from the perspective of a friend, and not a rival, like it is in, say, the anime, with the relationship between Ash and Gary, or Ash and Paul.**

 **With that said, I also originally planned on having Fay in for only the first season, but I didn't quite want to let him go just yet, and felt I could add more to his character. This is where I think I failed. In creating this character, I left him with few major flaws. It's by nature of his design. If I went back to re-write this (which, due to its sheer length, I doubt I will ever do), I would add more depth to his character. That's why I was trying to include more of his thoughts after his battle with Clair, to make him question why he is even challenging gyms at all. This season really toned down his character a lot, and I'd like to think it set him up well to leave the group at the end. Again, I recognize my faults in his character development. This is all really an exercise in me practicing my writing and story-telling skills, as I have always had an interest in writing, but never had the time to do it. This is all a learning process for me, and I can guarantee that for future seasons of this, I plan to improve my character development writing, starting with Brittany and JJ (who, admittedly, need it a little. I focused too much on Niko, expect this to change slightly in Season 3).**

 **I hope that clears things up. Thanks again for the comments, follows, reviews, etc. I appreciate them all. Talk to you all later.**

 **-Evanibble.**


End file.
